Woman jailed for trying to smuggle babies from Nigeria to the United Kingdom (PICTURED)
A 51-year-old woman, Ijeoma Udechukwu, has been jailed for trying to smuggle two babies into the United Kingdom.
The sentencing was carried out on Monday, 18 August, at Isleworth Crown Court. The woman, who is from Kennington, south-east London, was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for two years, 180 hours unpaid work.
Udechukwu was apprehended after going to the British embassy in Lagos, to present two completed applications for the youngsters which she falsely claimed were hers.
The embassy carried out a DNA test on her, which revealed she was not the biological mother of either infant and the applications were refused.
Udechukwu proceeded to return to the UK leaving the babies in the care of family and friends.
On 4 September, 2012 officers from what was Operation Paladin visited Udechukwa’s address in Kennington, where they found false Nigerian adoption papers which stated that the children had been found
abandoned in the street.
She reportedly refused to answer any questions about the fact she had lied to staff at the British High Commission by claiming she had given birth to them; and also refused to confirm how she came into possession of the babies, where she got them from, or where their biological mother was.
Detective constable Tony Foran, from the Metropolitan Police’s Sexual Exploitation team, said: “Adoption laws and procedures are in place in every country to protect the welfare and lives of vulnerable children and young people.
“The conviction of Udechukwu underpins the value of joint working and the commitment of all those agencies involved to safeguard children.”
