FIA arrests two more suspects in illegal kidney transplant case

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested two more alleged members of an illegal kidney transplant network after investigators linked them to more than 150 unlawful transplant cases and the use of fraudulent approvals from the Human Organ Transplant Authority.

The agency said the main suspect, Shabbir Hussain, was taken into custody in Jalalpur Bhattian in Hafizabad district, while his alleged aide and sub-agent, Ghulam Abbas, was arrested in Chak No 326/15-L in Mian Channu tehsil of Khanewal.

According to the investigation, both men are accused of arranging kidney donors by enticing financially vulnerable people with offers of small payments. The FIA’s initial findings indicate that Shabbir Hussain used sub-agents to approach labourers, daily wage earners and other underprivileged people in Punjab and Islamabad, with brick kiln workers said to be among those targeted.

Officials have also alleged that Shabbir Hussain facilitated more than 50 kidney donors for a urologist who was arrested last month as part of the same case. In May, the FIA Islamabad Zone detained nine people, including a prominent urologist and an employee of a private hospital, over their alleged role in illegal kidney transplants and organ trafficking.

Investigation findings

The FIA says the network charged transplant recipients Rs6 million per procedure, while in some cases the amount rose to Rs10 million. Donors, most of them described by investigators as poor and under financial stress, were allegedly paid only a few lakh rupees, with the remaining money divided among members of the network.

Investigators further alleged that approvals from the Human Organ Transplant Authority were obtained through forged and fraudulent documents. The required legal clearance from the relevant evaluation committee, according to the FIA, was not obtained.

Deputy Director of the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle Afzal Khan Niazi said the alleged network was not confined to Pakistani recipients and also involved transplant cases concerning Afghan, Chinese and Saudi nationals. He said forensic and legal scrutiny of records relating to foreign patients and financial transactions is in progress.

The latest arrests expand a case that FIA officials say has exposed an organised system of recruiting poor donors and processing transplant cases through fraudulent documentation.