organ trafficking

13 Stories

Woman Discovers Kidney Was Removed, Accuses Husband

Wife says she thought she was having appendicitis surgery

(Newser) - An Indian man is in police custody after allegedly stealing one of his wife's kidneys to serve as a dowry. When she complained of stomach pain two years ago, Rita Sarkar, 28, says her husband arranged a visit to a private nursing home in Kolkata, where the couple stayed...

ISIS Justifies Organ Harvesting From Living Prisoners

Even if it kills the captive

(Newser) - The Islamic State may be harvesting organs from living prisoners for profit, according to a Reuters exclusive. The news company obtained a copy of Fatwa Number 68 , which provides a religious justification for organ harvesting. "The apostate's life and organs don't have to be respected and may...

Desperate Europeans Try to Sell Kidneys, Lungs

Lungs being offered for as much as $250K

(Newser) - As Europeans grapple with economic misery, illegal organ sales are on the rise, with desperate sellers willing to part with kidneys, corneas, bone marrow, and even lungs. "When you need to put food on the table, selling a kidney doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice," says...

One Human Organ Sold Illegally Every Single Hour
One Human Organ Sold
Illegally Every Single Hour
WHO estimate
May 28, 2012 6:03 AM CDT

One Human Organ Sold Illegally Every Single Hour

Big money, growing demand fuel black market for kidneys and more

(Newser) - The illegal organ trade around the world is booming, with almost 11,000 organs bought on the black market in 2010, according to a World Health Organization estimate. That works out to more than one per hour, calculates the Guardian ; it takes a specific look at kidneys, which make up...

Chinese Teenager Sells Kidney for $3,000 to Buy iPad 2
 Teen Sells Kidney for iPad 2 
Jun 2, 2011 11:33 AM CDT

Teen Sells Kidney for iPad 2

Chinese boy, 17, received about $3K for organ

(Newser) - What would you do for an iPad 2? Probably not what one Chinese teen did: The 17-year-old boy sold one of his kidneys for about $3,000 so he could afford the device. The teen confessed to his mother after arriving home with "a laptop and a new Apple...

Kosovo PM Linked to Organ Trafficking

Rights watchdog accuses KLA of killing civilians for kidney trade

(Newser) - Kosovo Liberation Army leaders—including Prime Minister Hashim Thaci—ran a Mafia-style crime ring that trafficked in drugs and harvested organs, according to a Council of Europe probe. The human rights watchdog's 2-year inquiry found that men under Thaci's command shot civilians after the 1999 Kosovo war so their kidneys...

Haiti Fears Organ Trafficking
 Haiti Fears Organ Trafficking 
Jan 28, 2010 5:00 AM CST

Haiti Fears Organ Trafficking

Children, adults being targeted: prime minister

(Newser) - Not only child traffickers but also human organ traffickers are targeting Haiti, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive tells CNN . "There is organ trafficking for children and other persons also, because they need all types of organs," he said. Bellerive gave no further details during the interview, instead rejecting criticism...

Ugandan Child Murders Linked to Witch Doctors

US-backed task force struggles to quell brutal surge

(Newser) - Ritual murders and kidnappings continue to haunt Uganda despite police efforts to battle the horrors, the Guardian reports. Often linked to organ trafficking and witch doctors, some 300 cases were reported last year, and only 18 taken to court. A US-backed task force started this year has failed to stem...

Suspect in NJ Probe Sold Black-Market Kidneys

Corruption bust yields strange side business

(Newser) - The FBI says it's made the first organ trafficking arrest in US history, a strange byproduct of the sweeping corruption probe that nabbed dozens of New Jersey officials and rabbis, the Star-Ledger reports. Levy Izhak Rosenbaum is accused of dealing in kidneys: He'd buy them from donors in Israel for...

Cadaver Fence Gets 10 Years
 Cadaver Fence Gets 10 Years 
Jun 12, 2009 5:43 AM CDT

Cadaver Fence Gets 10 Years

(Newser) - A man convicted of fencing cadavers stolen from UCLA's willed body program has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, NBC reports. The lawyer for Ernest Nelson, 51, argued that his client’s sales to big-name customers such as Johnson & Johnson were all above board, and that the only...

UN Official: Guerrillas Killed Serb Prisoners for Organs

Former UN war crimes prosecutor alleges organ-harvesting happened during 1999 war

(Newser) - Kosovan guerrillas killed Serb prisoners and harvested their organs for profit during Balkan fighting nearly a decade ago, according to the former UN prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia. Carla del Ponte alleges that guerrillas trucked 300 captured Serbs over the border to a makeshift clinic in Albania, removed their...

Kidney-Theft Bust Has India Buzzing
Kidney-Theft Bust Has India Buzzing
Jan 30, 2008 4:31 PM CST

Kidney-Theft Bust Has India Buzzing

Ring may have done 500 illegal transplants; key suspect still loose

(Newser) - Police exposure of a criminal ring that has illegally taken hundreds of kidneys over the past nine years has created scandal in India, reports the New York Times. Victims were mostly day laborers lured by offers of work or simply kidnapped at gunpoint. They were forcibly operated on, and their...

Kidney Sales Brisk On India's Black Market

Desperate tsunami survivors sacrificing their kidneys, getting ripped off by doctors and dealers

(Newser) - Women impoverished by the catastrophic tsunami of 2004 are selling their kidneys on India's lucrative black market in ever increasing numbers. Wired reports on an international organ-donor scandal in which desperate donors are often ripped off by unscrupulous doctors and dealers who take the organs and keep the money.

13 Stories