North Cantt police on Friday arrested seven people including the ring leader of a gang involved in illegal business of organs transplant in a rented house for a year in Ameer-ud-din Park.
The arrested people include the gang’s ring leader Dr Haneef and accomplices Nadeem, Imran, Mushtaq, Sagheer, Mubashir and Ali. The police team also recovered a donor laborer, a recipient and an Indonesian from the spot. SP Operations Hashmat Kamal said a special team was constituted on the directions of DIG Operations Ghulam Mahmood Dogar after receiving information about a gang involved in selling the organs of poor and drug addicts.
Caught red-handed: He said a raid was conducted on a rented house located near Soling Road in Ameer-ud-Din Park in North Cantt police limits and the accused were arrested red-handedly.
“A man was lying unconscious on a stretcher for an operation when we raided at the house”, SP said. He said police seized all medical equipment found from the residence. He said that an Indonesians Nationality holder was also booked from the spot. Hashmat said the gang had been running the business for over a year and used to transplant organs to foreigners and rich people. He said further investigations.
DIG Operation Ghulam Mehmood Dogar said that the arrested accuseds were mainly dealing with Arab Countries including Saudi Arabia, Abu-Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Syria. He said that early interrogations had established the accused only visited the rented house when a transplant was scheduled. He said kidney transplant would cost from Rs 700,000 Rs 1 million while the donor would be paid about Rs 150,000 to 200,000. He said that the accused had selected the location due to proximity to the airport so that their foreign clientele could arrive easily.
The recovered donor: The donor recovered from the spot was later identified as Kasur resident Riaz. Police sources said Riaz had revealed he had been referred by a friend after he discussed his appendix’s pain with him. They said Riaz had not revealed his friends name. The sources said Riaz had told police that his ‘friend’ had told him to get his appendix operation from here since the hospital administration pays Rs 80,000 to 90,000 per operation.
Locals tell their stories:
While Lahore Police has claimed the operation, locals claimed they provide the basic information for the raid after noting suspicious activities. Locals said a Dr. Ali had rented the place about four months ago from a local, Khurshid. They said Dr. Ali had earlier started a dispensary and began treating people for Rs. 5 only. They said that the clinic was later closed and converted into an operation theatre. A local, Ahmed, said he had visited the place two weeks ago and had been offered free treatment by the accused. He said he had refused owning to suspicion.
Another local Abdul Rehman said he had observed people coming and leaving the place disguised as doctors, paramedics and in patient’s uniforms. He said that the accused would only visit the place at night which had raised alarm in amongst locals who tipped off police. A local Younis, who witnessed the raid from his roof, said he had witnessed Dr. Ali escaping.
