Gang lured poor to sell kidney at low price, charged clients 3 times higher: RAB

A gang has been arrested for their alleged involvement in illegal kidney trade through Facebook.

"They used to charge clients Tk15-20 lakh for each kidney. However, the donors only received Tk3-4 lakh for each organ," ANM Imran Khan, assistant director of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Legal and Media Wing, said in a briefing today.  

"The gang mainly operated through two Facebook pages named - Bangladesh Kidney O Liver Patient Chikitsa Seba and Kidney Liver Chikitsa Seba. They have trafficked kidneys of over 100 people so far," said the RAB official. 

"The ring leader Shahriar Imran, who is already accused in six cases over illegal organ trafficking, used to run the two Facebook pages," said the RAB spokesperson, adding, "The gang also ran their operations in three separate groups.

The first group was tasked to contact wealthy patients in the capital. The second group used to identify the poor, helpless people from the rural areas of the country. The third group was assigned to bring the clients to Dhaka to complete hospital-related formalities including crosshatching for the transplantation."

This gang refrained from providing any kind of paperwork to both the donors and the recipients, in a bid to avoid arrest. The racket allegedly consists 15-20 members.

The elite force has arrested five members of the gang from different areas in Dhaka and Joypurhat. 

The arrestees are - Shahriar Imran, Mehedi Hasan, Saiful Islam, Abdul Mannan, Tajul Islam alias Taju. 

Several passports, visa-related documents, five mobile phones and cash, both local and foreign currencies, have been seized from their possession.