Three more suspected organ traffickers held
Rawalpindi police cast the net wide against the organ trade ring and arrested three suspected traffikers including two nurses from the Jand area of Rawalpindi.
The Rawat police arrested a man and two nurses who were allegedly involved in the illegal organ trade and transplantation of kidneys.
According to the police, the arrested man is the brother of the victim, whose kidney had been removed without his consent at the illegal facility in a private housing society located in the vicinity of Rawat.
Police said that the arrested man, identified as Bhoota, had fraudulently sent his brother to the facility where his kidney was removed by the organ traffikers.
Earlier, the police recovered surgical equipment and a vehicle during a raid on two houses in the private housing society. The two houses in the housing society were being used for the illegal organ trade
Earlier, police said that the houses had been by rented by the accused for carrying out the illegal organ trade. Police earlier said that the suspected two women, had escaped the location leaving behind surgical equipment and other belongings including a vehicle after the police arrested one of their accomplices.
Police said that raids were under way for the arrest of the doctor, identified as Imran, who is said to be the ringleader of illegal kidney transplantation.
The doctor is said to have fled to Lahore after the police arrested his accomplices.
According to police sources, during the investigation it transpired that Bhoota had deceptively sent his brother, the victim, to the facility for Rs0.2 million.
The accused Imran, who has 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.
The police sources said that the organ trade gang had hired the nurses for Rs25,000 per person per month to carry out illegal work at the organ trade facility.
The sources said that the fleeing doctor used to visit Rawalpindi from Lahore for illegal transplantation after he was informed that “the targeted person was ready to be operated upon”.
Police said that a team was being sent to Lahore to arrest the suspected doctor while further raids are under way to arrest other members of the gang involved in removing kidneys and illegal transplantation by luring people trapped financially.
The gang used to take people to the private housing society where all medical tests were done before removing their vital organs especially kidneys.
The Punjab highway patrolling police arrested accused Saqib last week while he was taking the victim labourer, Azam, to a bus stop in his vehicle after illegally removing his kidney. Azam faced financial issues and had to pay a heavy loan.
Saqib took him to the facility and afterremoving his kidney was sending him back to his home in Jaranwala before police intercepted him and recovered the victim man from the vehicle.
A case has also been registered against Saqib on the statement of Azam. Rawat police also carried out medical test of Azam and it transpired that one of his kidneys had been removed.
Earlier, the Punjab Human Organs Transplant Authority (PHOTA) had 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.
Victim Azam, a labourer by profession, was called to Rawalpindi under the pretext of help before he was taken to the 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, 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.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2023.