Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities arrested a suspect allegedly involved in trafficking human organs in Peshawar, according to a statement from the provincial excise department on Saturday.

According to the KP Excise Department, joint operations with other institutions to curb smuggling are ongoing “against the illegal spectrum” on the instructions of the provincial apex committee.

“An operation was conducted under the command of Narcotics Control Excise Taxation Officer Faisal Khursheed at the Joint Check Post on the M-1,” the statement reads, adding that a gang involved in removing and selling human organs, including kidneys, was arrested“.

The statement said that the suspect brought two people from Multan to Peshawar, where he allegedly removed their kidneys. It did not elaborate on when this took place.

“The rate for selling the kidneys of both the individuals was fixed at Rs280,000,” the department said. “The gang takes advantage of struggling people, removes their organs and is involved in the business of trafficking them.”

The excise department added that the suspect’s mobile phone contained video footage of the victims. It said the suspect was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency.

In October 2023, then-Punjab caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi claimed that the police apprehended gang members who were allegedly involved in conducting over 300 unlawful kidney operations.

Naqvi, currently serving as the federal interior minister, told a press conference that the gang’s suspected leader and his accomplices had been arrested and the police team that did the job would be awarded a cash prize of Rs500,000.

He alleged that the main accused unlawfully extracted the kidneys of 328 people and transplanted them to rich clients, adding that the suspect was arrested at least five times in the past and confessed to performing the operations.