Josephine Iyamu, a London-based Nigerian nurse, who is currently serving an 18-year prison term for trafficking Nigerian women to Europe and forcing them into sex work, has been ordered to hand over almost £184,000 by a British court.

According to the National Crime Agency, a British law enforcement agency that combats organised crime, human, weapon and drug trafficking, and cybercrime, Iyamu, 54, forced the women she victimised to eat chicken hearts, drink blood containing worms and have powder rubbed into cuts during rituals and oath-swearing sessions, just to have total control over their dealings.

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The nurse, popularly known as Madame Sandra, also reportedly duped people in Nigeria into thinking she was rich and powerful before targeting and recruiting vulnerable women from rural villages, promising them a better life in Europe.

During her sentencing at the Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Richard Bond, the presiding judge, said she had shown “a complete disregard for the welfare of these women”.

The judge also added that Iyamu did not see the ladies as living, breathing human beings, but as commodities to earn her large sums of money.

Iyamu reportedly asked for £38,000 from her victims to cover their travel, but when they arrived, she forced them to work as prostitutes in Europe to pay off the debts she said they ‘owed her’.

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Her victims were told serious harm would come to them and their families if they broke the oath, and subjected to series of humiliation, including a juju ceremony designed to bond them to her.

Iyamu, who became the first person to be convicted under the Modern Slavery Act for offences committed overseas, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in a landmark prosecution led by the National Crime Agency in 2018. The court also ruled that she hand over the sum of £184,000.

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“Iyamu’s expenditure on travel and properties far outweighed her legitimate earnings as a nurse and our investigation into her finances proved she made hundreds of thousands of pounds from her criminality,” said Kay Mellor, the UK’s National Crime Agency Senior Investigating Officer.

“Confiscation orders are a key tool which provide us with the capability to really hit criminals where it hurts – in the pocket. Iyamu was calculated, manipulative and motivated by money.

“Not only is she serving a hefty prison sentence, she won’t also be living a luxury lifestyle when she comes out.”

The initial investigation into Iyamu began in 2017 following the identification of one of her victims who was working in a German brothel at the time. Iyamu was located in London and was going under the alias of Madame Sandra.

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A joint effort between the National Crime Agency and the Nigerian Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) looked into her activities in Nigeria.

The five victims of Iyamu in the courtroom at her trial detailed their horrendous ordeal of travelling across Africa by land then via boat to Italy before finally being flown to Germany under false identities provided by Iyamu’s associates.

Iyamu is expected to pay the sum within three months or she will serve additional two years in prison and still be liable for the money.