The arrest of a gang dedicated to the illegal sale of kidneys in Pakistan reveals the continued existence of the mafias that maintain the “international transplant tourism” in this nation of 240 million people, with hundreds of people selling their organs for rich patients.
Pakistan has for years been a hub for the illegal kidney trade, not only for local customers but also for international seekers, mainly from Arabia, Africa and the United Kingdom.
Eight arrests announced last week are the latest in numerous attempts by authorities to stop gangs that have been involved in organ trafficking for years.
One of those arrested is Fawad Mukhtar, a doctor by profession, who is behind an organ trafficking network that illegally removed 328 kidneys from people and then performed transplants. He has been arrested on multiple occasions for malpractice activities in the eastern province of Punjab. He and his collaborators were released from prison on all previous occasions after paying bail.
“The facts and figures that have reached us make our hearts tremble,” the head of government of the Pakistani province of Punjab admitted to the press last Sunday. Mohsin Naqvi.