In the nick of time: Police rescue 24 from clutches of organ smugglers

Busts gang of kidney thieves and arrests four suspects, ringleader on the run

RAWALPINDI: In what is considered a major bust, Rawalpindi police on Sunday raided the basement of a shopping centre and rescued 24 people who were being held there by suspected organ smugglers.

Officials also arrested four people, including a woman, suspected of smuggling organs. The police later obtained a one-day transitory remand of the suspects.

According to the FIR of the incident, ASI Muhammad Yaqoob said that a police party was on routine patrol late on Saturday when Constable Shehnaz Anjum told them that a suspected gang of organ smugglers were present in the basement of the shopping plaza in Rawat.

Officials subsequently raided the basement and recovered 20 men and four women who had been detained in two rooms. Officials arrested by two people, Shehzad Qayyum alias Shani and Balqees Bibi, who were guarding the rooms.

Police also arrested Faqeer Hussain, a driver, who had led the raiding party to the basement. Later, they also arrested Zafar Iqbal, the owner of the plaza.

Officials said they had recovered injections and other surgical items during the raid, confirming their suspicious that the suspects were involved in the organ trade.

The Rawat police subsequently produced the accused before the court on Sunday having charged the suspects under sections 365 (kidnapping) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of Pakistan Penal Code and 9 (prohibition of removal of human organs), 10 (punishment for removal of human organs without authority) and 11 (punishment for commercial dealings in human organs) of Transplantation of Human Organ and Tissues Act 2010.

Officials sought physical remand of the suspects, but the duty judge granted one-day transit physical remand of the accused and ordered the police to produce them accused before relevant court for further proceedings on Monday.

The court also asked the police to record the statements of the rescued people before the court under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code.

Clueless

Despite questioning the suspects, police remain clueless, about the alleged ringleader of the organ stealing gang,

The believe that Dr Zahid Iqbal, owner of Kidney Centre Hospital in Morgah, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Dr Tauseef Ahmed, Dr Raja Mehmood, cashier Laeeq Ahmed and others to be allegedly involved in the case.

CPO Israr Abbasi, said the ringleader of the group and other members of the gang had managed to escape, but a special team of the police had been constituted under SP Saddar Circle Iftikharul Haq, to track and arrest them. He added that they were also considering placing the names of the suspects on the exit control list.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2016.