Human placenta smuggling racket busted

FIA arrests 5 suspects, including 3 Chinese nationals, after raiding processing facility

RAWALPINDI:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Islamabad Zone has busted an illegal human tissue processing facility in the federal capital and arrested a five-member gang allegedly involved in processing and smuggling human placenta abroad.

According to FIA sources, Director FIA Islamabad Zone Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari received intelligence reports indicating that a group comprising foreign nationals and Pakistani citizens was involved in the illegal processing and trade of human biological material in Islamabad. Acting on the information, he directed officials to monitor the suspects and verify the intelligence.

After confirming the reports, a team from the FIA Commercial Crime Circle raided a house in Sector F-7/1, Islamabad, where they discovered a fully operational processing plant allegedly being used for the illegal processing and drying of human placenta.

Investigators revealed that the processed material was exported and smuggled to Vietnam under the name "She Placenta." Authorities recovered processing equipment, raw material and finished products from the premises.

Five suspects were arrested during the raid, including three Chinese nationals - Li Gangcai, Wang Bao and Peng Fei Gua - and two Pakistani citizens, identified as Waqas and Qasim Hanif. During the operation, another Chinese national, identified only as Li, arrived at the location and claimed to be a friend of one of the suspects.

Based on information obtained from the arrested individuals, FIA teams conducted a second raid at another location in the F-7/E-11 area of Islamabad. Officials discovered a similar fully functional processing centre equipped with refrigerators and biological material, indicating that the facility was actively being used.

Two additional Pakistani nationals were taken into custody from the second location and are being questioned.

The FIA has registered a case against the suspects under relevant provisions of the Human Organ and Tissue Transplantation Act (HOTA) 2010. Further investigations are underway, and authorities expect additional revelations regarding the network's operations.

In February this year, police in Rawalpindi recovered a labourer abducted by a criminal ring involved in surgically extracting the kidneys of poor workers who were in good health to transplant them into rich patients from abroad. Police sources said the gang used to set its target on extracting healthy kidneys from poor labourers. The police registered a case at the Civil Lines police station after receiving reports of the gang's illegal activities.

In a similar case, the FIA busted another gang of illegal kidney transplanters within the jurisdiction of Tarnol Police Station in Sector G-16 of the federal capital. The law enforcement agency uncovered an illegal kidney transplant centre operating from the basement of a private residence after receiving a call from victims who had been stranded there following forced surgical procedures.

The FIA detained three doctors and several members of staff during a late-night raid. A number of patients were found at the premises. They were being kept in rooms in the basement of the house that was allegedly being used as an unauthorised hospital facility.