January 26, 2008	Saturday	Muharram 16, 1429

NEW DELHI: As many as 500 poor labourers may have been tricked into operations by a gang of organ traders selling kidneys in a wealthy suburb of the Indian capital, according to a report on Friday.

Police in Gurgaon, home to call centres and high-rise buildings, raided a house late on Thursday on a tip-off from a middleman who was arrested earlier this week, the Indian Express daily reported.

Two people, including a doctor, were arrested while three others who had recently been operated on were taken to hospital, the report said. Two men who were yet to be operated on were also rescued.

Gurgaon police commissioner Mohinder Lal told the paper that the labourers were paid between Rs50,000 ($1,250) and Rs75,000 for a kidney.

The kidneys were later sold by doctors for between 800,000 and one million rupees, Lal said, citing information from those arrested on Thursday.

Police would raid other locations in the area based on information from those arrested, the report said.—AFP