Organ trafficking rears its ugly head in Punjab again

Abduction of a child reveals to the police that the practice has become prevalent in the province

LAHORE:

It has taken a kidnapping of a young boy for Punjab’s law enforcement agencies to realise that a human organ trafficking group is active in the province and trying to lure in people with promises of high cash amounts.

Frantic with worry, Abdullah’s father approached the Manawan police station and lodged a complaint about his missing son.

Even though Abdullah was found, he is now missing a kidney.

The 14-year-old victim told the police that a group had approached him and said that he would receive a handsome amount for his kidney.

After which, the child was taken from Lahore to Rawalpindi and after the procedure had been done he was given a few thousand rupees.

Presently, a team has been formed by the CCPO Lahore to investigate the matter further and so far four arrests have been made.

Amongst the arrested are Amjad, who is a resident of Alia Town; Yousuf and Yousuf residents of the Dial area in Lahore; and Faisal resident of Sharifpura.

According to police sources privy to the matter, so far the arrested individuals have revealed that they would hand over people to an accomplice named Ameen, who would then take them to Rawalpindi for the organ removal procedure.

The sources further said that the arrested individuals have confessed that people would be lured in with promises of getting handsome amounts and once the kidney had been removed they would only get a measly sum.

However, as per officers of the Manawan police station, they have not been successful in extracting any other information which could lead to further arrests.

Consequently,, as per police sources, recently, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Punjab Human Organ Transplantation Authority (PHOTA) have joined the investigation process as well.

However, despite recent raids by both authorities to catch the ringleaders of the trafficking group, so far there has been little luck.

In this regard, Central General Secretary of Pakistan Young Doctors Association, Dr Salman Kazmi, said that the police had failed to protect the citizens of Punjab from traffickers.

“Everyone knows that such agents roam around government and private hospitals.

They prey upon those who are poor and offer them lucrative sums of money in exchange for a kidney.

All of this is done in connivance with hospitals and doctors.

It is unfortunate that the police have just woken up to this crime,” remarked Dr Kazmi.

Dr Kazmi’s assessment holds weight, as police sources confided to The Express Tribune that despite the vast powers authorities like PHOTA have, there has been little progress in Abdullah’s case.