London-based 'juju' trafficker told to pay up or face extra jail time

Josephine Iyamu is serving an 18-year prison term for selling African women into sexual slavery

Josephine Iyamu used juju rituals to terrify young women from Nigeria before trafficking them to Europe. NCA

A nurse in London who was jailed for using African juju rituals to force Nigerian women into sexual slavery in Europe has been told to hand over nearly £184,000 ($242,700) or face more prison time.

Josephine Iyamu recruited vulnerable women from villages and persuaded them to pay up to £31,600 for "better lives" in Europe but instead forced them into prostitution in Germany to pay off their debts.

She organised priest-led rituals based on an ancient African belief system in powerful deities that left the women fearful of dying or being left childless if they spoke out against the traffickers who had brought them to Europe.

Iyamu, 54, was in 2018 sentenced to 18 years in jail in the first conviction under modern slavery laws of a British citizen for offences committed abroad.

An investigation was launched after German police identified one of her victims working in Trier, south-west Germany.

Iyamu was arrested after she flew to Britain from Nigeria in August 2017. She tried to track her victims from prison to intimidate them into silence.

But five women gave evidence against her after they were shown a video by prosecutors of a priest conducting a “reverse-juju” ceremony. It persuaded them to speak out against the human smuggling operation led by Iyamu.

Iyamu – who was known as Madame Sandra – was this month handed a confiscation order of nearly £184,000 to claw back some of her criminal profit. If she fails to pay the money within three months, she will serve an additional two years in prison, the UK’s National Crime Agency said.

Police said she had made “hundreds of thousands of pounds” from the trafficking operation. She owned a large house in Benin City, Nigeria – the centre of the racket – where she employed staff.

“Josephine Iyamu specifically targeted vulnerable women and put them through the most horrific experience, only to profit considerably form their misery,” Kay Mellor of the NCA said.

“Iyamu was calculated, manipulative and motivated by money. Not only is she serving a hefty prison sentence, but she won’t be living a luxury lifestyle when she comes out.”

Iyamu had positioned herself as a powerful woman in Nigeria and had run the people smuggling operation using the cover of a political campaign to empower women and their families.

The juju ceremonies were designed to cow the victims into silence with smoke and showmanship from priests who charged $250 a time, said Andy Desmond, a former officer in Scotland Yard’s anti-trafficking unit.

Nigeria’s own anti-trafficking unit has championed the practice of reverse-juju ceremonies to persuade the terrified women to speak out.

Some victims had previously been brought back to Nigeria to attend ceremonies before returning to Spain to give evidence against traffickers,

A series of cases linked to Benin City prompted the local ruler to place his own curse on traffickers in a move that had an immediate effect on the operations of the criminal gangs from the area, charities say.