Police bust organ trafficking network

Three Israeli men have been arrested for running an organ trafficking operation.

Israel’s police on Tuesday arrested three men suspected of running a human organ trafficking network.

The three are suspected of having conspired together to establish the network, and then worked to locate and enlist potential donors and buyers for the organs. They are suspected of having collected hundreds of thousands of Shekels in illegal fees for each procedure.

Two of the ring members were tasked with locating potential donors who were in financial straits and in need for a source of income, and recipients with high incomes who would pay for such a service. The third suspect, a doctor, conducted the preliminary tests.

The procedures were conducted in Turkey and concealed as transplants among family members.

After months of conducting a covert investigation, the police arrested the three and searched their homes. They were remanded on Wednesday.

This is not the first time the suspected doctor has been detained in connection with illegal organ trafficking.

He was involved in a similar network in 2007, which was exposed after organ donors complained they were not paid and were left without medical care. The suspect fled the country in 2009 and lived in Ukraine until 2009, when he was extradited to Israel.

His license to practice medicine in Israel was suspended, but that did not stop him from starting another illicit network.

By: World Israel News Staff