The Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it arrested the leader of a syndicate which specialised in selling and buying of human organs.
A statement by the agency’s Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said the suspect, identified as Emeka Ukaeje, was arrested in Ozuoba, on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The statement said the suspect went by different names to conceal his crime.
It said, “The syndicate leader, Ukaeje John Emeka (alias Dr Phil Mark, Dr Donald Phillip, Dr Wesley David), was arrested on April 16, 2021 at Rumukparali, Ozuoba, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, based on established intelligence on his suspicious fraudulent Internet dealings.
“Preliminary investigations by the EFCC showed that the suspect is leading a syndicate of fraudsters falsely presenting themselves as medical doctors, with a human organ bank, particularly kidneys for sale and purchase.
“Victims of the syndicate include people with renal diseases and even healthy people desirous of selling their organs in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and United Arab Emirate.
“Items recovered from the suspect included one Nigerian passport; one Republic of Cote D’ivoire passport, nine ATM cards; one black-coloured HP laptop; one gold-coloured Tecno L9 plus phone; one- gold coloured Samsung Galaxy J8 and one ash-coloured Lexus ES 330 saloon car.
“The commission is on the trail of other members of the syndicate within and outside Nigeria.”