(Bloomberg) -- A Nigerian senator and his wife were charged with conspiring to arrange the travel of a child to the UK in order to harvest organs.

London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement Thursday it charged a 60-year-old Nigerian called Ike Ekweremadu, following an investigation that began in May. He and his wife, Beatrice, are in custody and appeared in a London court, according to local media reports.

The individual charged is Senator Ike Ekweremadu, according to a person familiar with the matter. The date of birth listed in the police statement matches what appears on Ekweremadu’s profile on the website of Nigeria’s National Assembly.

Siobhain Egan, a lawyer for Ekweremadu, declined to comment, while Uche Anichukwu, the politician’s spokesman, didn’t answer calls made to his mobile phone and didn’t respond to a text message.

Ekweremadu has sat in the Senate for 19 years and was the upper chamber’s deputy president from 2007 to 2019.

The investigation started in May under modern slavery legislation, the police said. 

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