Surgical tools seized from organ trade facility

Punjab Human Organs Transplant Authority becomes party in high-profile case

RAWALPINDI:

Rawalpindi police recovered surgical equipment and a vehicle during a raid on two houses in a private housing society located in the vicinity of Rawat.

The two houses in the housing society were being used for the illegal organ trade

Police officials said that the houses had been by rented the accused for carrying out the illegal organ trade. Police said that the suspected accused including two women, possibly nurses, have escaped the location leaving behind surgical equipment and other belongings including a vehicle after the police arrested one of their accomplices.

Police officials said that they recovered the surgical equipment from the two houses and a seven-seater vehicle parked at a distance, which also contained surgical equipment. The accused including Imran, who is said to be a doctor, have gone into hiding after the Rawalpindi patrolling police arrested their accomplice Saqib Ali, after they intercepted a vehicle carrying a man who had his kidney removed at the health facility.

Sources said that the FIA has also contacted the Rawat police and collected information about the accused to cast the net wide to bust the whole network.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Human Organs Transplant Authority (PHOTA) has also approached the Rawalpindi police with a request to add Sections 10 and 11 of the Punjab Human Organs Transplant Act in the case against the arrested organ trafficker.

The PHOTA has also become a party to the case after the police busted the gang involved in the illegal trade of organs.

Police on Sunday busted the organ trafficking ring and arrested Saqib Ali, after they intercepted a vehicle carrying a man who had his kidney removed.

The man, a labourer by profession, was called to Rawalpindi under the pretext of help before he was taken to a private health facility to get one of his kidneys removed. Earlier, Punjab Highway Patrolling Police Sub-Inspector, Sayab Awan lodged a case with the Rawat police stating that Saqib Ali, attempted to escape before he was taken into custody. The driver told the police that he was in a hurry and offered Rs5,000 as a bribe. Sub-Inspector Sayab Awan said that when he checked the vehicle, he found a man wrapped in a shawl in the back of the vehicle with a cannula in his arm and a bandage had been wrapped around his belly.

When inquired, the victim, identified as Azam, a resident of Jaranwala, told the highway police that he worked at a brick kiln and he had borrowed from the owner Abdul Rehman, who was demanding the sum back. He further told the police that after reaching Rawalpindi on February 10, Saqib Ali took him to an unknown house at a private housing society in his car. There, he said, he was given an injection and he fell unconscious. He said that when he woke up late at night, there was a cannula in his arm and he felt severe pain in the belly.

Meanwhile, police obtained a four-day physical remand of the accused, Saqib Ali. Police have added provisions of kidnapping and others to the case already registered against the accused for attempting to bribe the police officer and trying to hit him with a car.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2023.