122 Indonesians victims of illegal organ trade of kidneys
Global News
Police are investigating the illegal trade of human organs involving police who were accused of helping traffickers send Indonesians to a hospital in Cambodia.
Indonesian police are investigating the illegal trade of human organs involving police and immigration officers who were accused of helping traffickers send 122 Indonesians to a hospital in Cambodia to sell their kidneys, police said Tuesday.
Indonesian authorities arrested 12 people, including a police officer and an immigration officer, on July 19, and police will continue to crack down on human smuggling syndicates conducting the illegal trade of human organs, said Hengki Haryadi, the Jakarta police director for general crimes.
He said all 122 victims, including factory workers, teachers and executives, had returned to Indonesia, and police were still searching a number of other victims whose testimony would be required by investigators.
“Most of the victims lost their jobs during the pandemic and they agreed to sell their organs because they needed money,” Haryadi said, adding that six of the victims are still under observation of doctors.
Nine of the suspects were former organ trade victims who were accused of luring people from across Indonesia through social media into having their kidneys removed in Cambodia, Haryadi said. A 10th suspect was accused of sending them to Preah Ket Mealea Hospital in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, for kidney transplant surgery.
He said the turnover of the illegal trade in human organs since 2019 by the group of suspects totaled about 24.4 billion rupiah (US$1.6 million), while each victim was promised 135 million rupiah ($9,000).
A low-ranking police officer in Bekasi, an immigration officer in Bali and 10 traffickers, three of whom were arrested in Cambodia, are part of a human trafficking ring that prey on vulnerable job seekers, Haryadi said.
The immigration officer from Bali was accused of abusing his power and falsifying documents for victims to travel overseas and received at least three million rupiah ($200) for each person he smuggled to Cambodia.
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