NEW DELHI: Malaysia is among several countries on the radar of the Bangldeshi police on the trail of an international syndicate linked to illegal kidney trade across several Southeast Asian countries.
Investigators have identified a reputed international hospital with branches in key regions and capitals, including a hospital in Malaysia.
Initial investigations have revealed that donors from remote villages in Bangladesh were flown to the regions to sell their kidneys.
Eight people have been arrested in connection with luring the poor illiterate victims overseas for that purpose.
"We have information this (international) hospital has branches in India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
"As such, we have launched a massive crackdown on the illegal kidney trade spanning across several Southeast Asian countries.
"An agency in Dhaka is involved in the illegal kidney transplant. Many poor, illiterate and people with high borrowings (debts) were taken abroad where the kidney transplant is done.
"It is possible they have visited these countries," Mozammel Haque, Joypurhat Superintendent of Police told Bernama by phone Wednesday.
He said each victim was paid between US$2,000 (RM6,000) and US$3,000 (RM9, 000) for a kidney, but was unsure how much the organ was priced in the black market.
So far, at least seven cases of illegal sale of kidney have surfaced in Joypurhat located in northern Bangladesh where largely impoverished communities survive on seasonal agricultural crops.
Kidney transplant is illegal in Bangladesh. – Bernama
Originally published in The Star Online
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