Pakistan: Gang carrying out illegal organ transplants in China busted

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has busted a trans-national gang in Lahore on September 7, allegedly involved in illegal organ transplant trade in China, a Pakistani news outlet reported.

According to the report, the agency previously arrested a number of suspects involved in illegal human organ transplant, especially in the province of Punjab, where kidney transplants were carried out.

On Monday, a team conducted a raid at the passport office on the directions of FIA Punjab Zone-I Deputy Director Sardar Mavarhan Khan on receiving information that an international gang was active in Lahore in illegal transplant of human organs.

According to local media reports, FIA arrested seven suspects, including donors and agents.

The gang members allegedly motivated underprivileged people to sell their organs like livers and kidneys, and then had the organ transplant conducted in China.

Khan told a local news outlet that initial investigations revealed that the agents had contacts in China where they managed to get the organ transplant conducted by Chinese doctors.

“This is the first time that such a gang has been unearthed, which was involved in illegal human organ transplants in China. An agent pays around Rs400,000 (Dh 8,820) to a donor and arranges his travel to the country. A recipient usually reaches there (China) on his own,” Khan was quoted as saying.

According to the FIA official, the gang has transported around 30 people to China for the transplants, as per Pakistani news reports.

The arrested suspects were identified as Abdul Latif, Muhammad Hanif, Abdul Ghaffar, Haq Nawaz, Abdul Jabbar, Muhammad Zulfiqar and Rafaqat Ali.

Several of the accused belonged to Pakistan’s Okara district and a case has been registered against them.