When John McCormack, a Scottish mining engineer living and working in Ghana, visited Jimmie in his Barons Court flat, accompanied by his girlfriend, Veronica Sam, Jimmie, who had only recently met the engineer while on a visit to the mining town of Tarkwa, had a business proposal. He would persuade him to go into business, trafficking gold. If he agreed, John would get the gold from the mining company in a manner only he would determine, Jimmie would fly to Ghana, collect it, and bring it to England to sell. The two would split the proceeds straight down the middle. With Veronica present, however, Jimmie was somewhat inhibited but hoped for an opportune moment to bring up the subject. While skirting around the subject during a discussion of the dire economic situation prevailing in Ghana, the engineer suddenly said, "You know, in Ghana today, and especially in Nigeria, red mercury is a hot commodity. A teaspoon full of the stuff will bring you several thousand naira." Jimmie registered the statement in his mind and decided that perhaps the red mercury track would be more lucrative than his business plan. In any case, he did not know how John McCormack would take the suggestion. Lured by prospects of striking it rich, Jimmie Quartey, recently graduated from Kings College, University of London, and his live-in girlfriend, Maria Kostopoulos, spent their lives' savings on twenty kilograms of mercuric oxide red and embarked upon a journey that would take them on a whirlwind tour lasting for almost eight weeks in Nigeria.