Lahore police bust gang involved in illegal kidney sale racket

LAHORE: In a significant development, Lahore Police, led by SP Lahore Saddar Sidra Khan, has apprehended three suspects linked to a notorious gang engaged in the illicit trade of kidney.

Addressing the media, SP Sidra Khan revealed that the nefarious gang had exploited a sinister operation, extracting kidneys from a shocking ninety individuals in Lahore. Each kidney fetched a hefty price ranging from twenty-five to fifty lakhs in the illegal organ market.

The modus operandi of the gang involved luring unsuspecting victims, often impoverished kiln workers, under false pretenses of employment opportunities. These individuals were then transported to Islamabad, where, under the guise of mandatory medical tests for overseas employment, their kidneys were forcibly extracted at a clandestine farmhouse.

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SP Sidra Khan, while shedding light on the distressing details, emphasised the vulnerable demographic targeted by the criminal syndicate.

The victims, primarily from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, fell prey to the gang’s deceitful tactics.

The ongoing investigation is now intensifying its efforts to apprehend the medical professional implicated in these illegal transplantations, she said.

The commercial trade of human organs was made illegal in Pakistan in 2010.

The punishment for those caught includes a decade-long jail term and huge fines in the hope that this will stop sales to overseas clients by exploitative doctors, middlemen, recipients and donors.

However, there has been a rise in organ trafficking in the country as people struggle with low wages and a poor enforcement of the law.