LAHORE: The Organised Crime Unit (OCU) of Lahore police raided a ‘rented farmhouse’ in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and busted an alleged mega kidney transplant racket being run by some senior local doctors from Dubai.

However, the police claim that two of the racketeers (doctors) – Dr Tariq and Dr Arshad – escaped during the raid, while their ringleader, Dr Saqib, was already in Dubai.

According to the findings of initial police inquiries, the racket was being privately run by the three senior local doctors, who used to conduct illegal kidney transplants of ‘foreign patients’, charging them hefty amounts in foreign currency.

Police say the doctors had their main office in Dubai, from where they used to bring patients to Pakistan for illegal kidney transplant procedures.

Two foreigners undergoing surgery shifted to Services in critical condition

An official privy to the investigations says the raiding police teams recovered two foreigners, who were undergoing kidney transplant procedure at the farmhouse and shifted them to the Services Hospital Lahore in serious condition.

The official says the police conducted the raid on the farmhouse following tip-offs regarding the illegal business going on there.

Earlier, the police sources say, the same information was shared with the Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (P-HOTA), but the officials concerned either ignored it or delayed action against the racketeers, due to the reasons best known to them.

He says the OCU officials have so far arrested eight members of the network involved in the racket, including helpers, assistants, paramedics and other employees from the spot.

Located on Bedian Road, Lahore, the farmhouse had been rented by the racketeers who secretly converted it into an illegal ‘kidney transplant centre’.

According to the police, Dr Sqaib is already notorious for conducting illegal organ transplants.

Lahore OCU head DIG retired Capt Liaqat Malik told Dawn his unit is trying to nab the gang’s Dubai-based ringleader Dr Saqib, who would allegedly entice foreigners in need of kidney transplant and send them to Lahore, where his associates would move them to the farmhouse for illegal surgical procedure.

The DIG says the doctors would also trap organ “donors”, mostly belonging to poor families in Lahore and other parts of the province, paying them Rs50,000 to Rs80,000 for the purpose.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2023