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Agence France-Presse

The Israeli ringleader of a global gang of organ traffickers has been arrested in Cyprus.
Moshe Harel is suspected of organising dozens of illegal kidney transplants at the Medicus clinic in Kosovo’s capital Pristina in 2008, and is the man being held, according to local media.
“The suspect whose initials are MH was arrested a few days ago in Cyprus following an international arrest warrant” from Pristina, Kosovan police spokesman Baki Kelani said Saturday.
Harel has been hunted by the authorities for almost a decade for exploiting victims, often recruited from poor areas in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, by promising 15,000 euros (US$18,000) for their organs.
Recipients, mainly Israelis, would pay up to 100,000 euros for the transplant.
The organ trafficking network came to light in 2008 after a Turkish man collapsed at Pristina airport after having a kidney removed.
Police raided the Medicus clinic, which shut following the scandal.
In 2013, an EU-led court in Kosovo sentenced five Kosovan doctors to up to eight years in prison for organ trafficking in the country.
Donors, whose organs were illegally removed, were left without proper medical care and treated “like waste,” prosecutors said at the time of the trial.
The Supreme Court of Kosovo annulled the verdict in 2016 and ordered a new trial, which is ongoing.
The indictment named Harel as the trafficking network’s mastermind, while Turkish doctor Yusuf Ercin Sonmez – labelled by Kosovo media as the “Turkish Frankenstein” and still on the run – was suspected of performing the transplants at the clinic.


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Crime

Police arrest Israeli organ smuggling ‘mastermind’ in Cyprus after 10-year global manhunt

Moshe Harel, accused Israeli ringleader of a global gang of organ traffickers, has been arrested in Cyprus. Photo: Interpol

Team of medical workers ran organ trafficking ring in China

Donors received 40,000 yuan each for their kidneys. Photo: AP

Pakistan’s illegal kidney trade propped up by poor and wealthy

Maqsood Ahmed, who sold one of his kidneys, shows his scar. Photo: AFP

In this photograph taken on February 2, 2017, Maqsood Ahmed, who sold one of his kidneys, displays a scar in Bhalwal in Sargodha District, in Pakistan's Punjab Province. Pakistan has long been an international hub for the illegal kidney trade, but authorities complain they have been unable to act against the practice due to ineffective policies and limited powers. Organ donation is legal so long as it is voluntary, given without duress or the exchange of money. But strict cultural and religious taboos mean there is a shortage of those willing to donate. / AFP PHOTO / AAMIR QURESHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY PAKISTAN-ILLEGAL-ORGANS-TRADE-HEALTH-SOCIAL, FEATURE, BY KHURRAM SHAHZAD

In this photograph taken on February 2, 2017, thirty-year-old Bushra Bibi (R), who sold one of her kidneys, cleans dishes with her daughter in a courtyard at her home in Bhalwal in Sargodha District, in Pakistan's Punjab Province. Bibi, who sold her organ 12 years ago for 110,000 rupees (1,000 USD), is still stiff with pain from the surgery. Pakistan has long been an international hub for the illegal kidney trade, but authorities complain they have been unable to act against the practice due to ineffective policies and limited powers. Organ donation is legal so long as it is voluntary, given without duress or the exchange of money. But strict cultural and religious taboos mean there is a shortage of those willing to donate. / AFP PHOTO / AAMIR QURESHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY PAKISTAN-ILLEGAL-ORGANS-TRADE-HEALTH-SOCIAL, FEATURE, BY KHURRAM SHAHZAD

In this photograph taken on February 2, 2017, thirty-year-old Bushra Bibi, who sold one of her kidneys, cries as she speaks during an interview with AFP at her home in Bhalwal in Sargodha District, in Pakistan's Punjab Province. Bibi, who sold her organ 12 years ago for 110,000 rupees (1,000 USD), is still stiff with pain from the surgery. Pakistan has long been an international hub for the illegal kidney trade, but authorities complain they have been unable to act against the practice due to ineffective policies and limited powers. Organ donation is legal so long as it is voluntary, given without duress or the exchange of money. But strict cultural and religious taboos mean there is a shortage of those willing to donate. / AFP PHOTO / AAMIR QURESHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY PAKISTAN-ILLEGAL-ORGANS-TRADE-HEALTH-SOCIAL, FEATURE, BY KHURRAM SHAHZAD

In this photograph taken on February 2, 2017, Malik Zafar Iqbal, who runs an union 'Association of Kidney Sellers' (AKS), makes tea for customers at his stall in the town of Kot Momin in Sargodha District, in Pakistan's Punjab province. Pakistan has long been an international hub for the illegal kidney trade, but authorities complain they have been unable to act against the practice due to ineffective policies and limited powers. Organ donation is legal so long as it is voluntary, given without duress or the exchange of money. But strict cultural and religious taboos mean there is a shortage of those willing to donate. / AFP PHOTO / AAMIR QURESHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY PAKISTAN-ILLEGAL-ORGANS-TRADE-HEALTH-SOCIAL, FEATURE, BY KHURRAM SHAHZAD

In this photograph taken on February 2, 2017, Maqsood Ahmed, who sold one of his kidneys, works at a wood workshop in Bhalwal in Sargodha District, in Pakistan's Punjab Province. Pakistan has long been an international hub for the illegal kidney trade, but authorities complain they have been unable to act against the practice due to ineffective policies and limited powers. Organ donation is legal so long as it is voluntary, given without duress or the exchange of money. But strict cultural and religious taboos mean there is a shortage of those willing to donate. / AFP PHOTO / AAMIR QURESHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY PAKISTAN-ILLEGAL-ORGANS-TRADE-HEALTH-SOCIAL, FEATURE, BY KHURRAM SHAHZAD

In this photograph taken on May 2, 2017, arrested doctor Fawad Mumtaz (C) and his paramedic assistants, who were conducting unauthorised surgeries to transplant kidneys to international clients, stand in a Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) station in Lahore. Pakistan has long been an international hub for the illegal kidney trade, but authorities complain they have been unable to act against the practice due to ineffective policies and limited powers. Organ donation is legal so long as it is voluntary, given without duress or the exchange of money. But strict cultural and religious taboos mean there is a shortage of those willing to donate. / AFP PHOTO / ARIF ALI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY PAKISTAN-ILLEGAL-ORGANS-TRADE-HEALTH-SOCIAL, FEATURE, BY KHURRAM SHAHZAD

In this photograph taken on February 2, 2017, thirty-year-old Bushra Bibi (2R), who sold one of her kidneys, cleans a courtyard at her home in Bhalwal in Sargodha District, in Pakistan's Punjab Province Bibi, who sold her organ 12 years ago for 110,000 rupees (1,000 USD), is still stiff with pain from the surgery. Pakistan has long been an international hub for the illegal kidney trade, but authorities complain they have been unable to act against the practice due to ineffective policies and limited powers. Organ donation is legal so long as it is voluntary, given without duress or the exchange of money. But strict cultural and religious taboos mean there is a shortage of those willing to donate. / AFP PHOTO / AAMIR QURESHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY PAKISTAN-ILLEGAL-ORGANS-TRADE-HEALTH-SOCIAL, FEATURE, BY KHURRAM SHAHZAD

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Moshe Harel has been hunted by the authorities for almost a decade for exploiting victims, often recruited from poor areas in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, by promising 15,000 euros for their organs
