A Nigerian couple in the UK has been arraigned for selling illegal skin-whitening products online.
Jonathan and Holiness Ikpere have avoided jail after admitting selling the toxic products.
They are thought to have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds from selling banned bleaching concoctions from their home in Towpath Mead, Southsea.
They imported large quantities of cosmetics from countries in West Africa before selling them in the UK and other countries abroad.
They were caught in the UK’s first national investigation into the online sale of dangerous skin-whitening products.
Jonathan Ikpere, a PHD student studying at Portsmouth University, set up various PayPal accounts to collect orders for eBay purchases, which had a turnover of more than £100,000.
The couple pleaded guilty to manufacturing toxic bleaching cosmetics and were fined £17,000, as well as given 60-hour community service orders each.
Both received suspended sentences, six months for Jonathan and four months for Holiness, suspended for a year.
