Dismantling a human kidney trafficking ring disguised as organ donation
The police have just dismantled a human organ trafficking ring disguised as kidney donation with illegal profits of more than 12 billion VND.
The HCM City Police Department of Staff said that the Investigation Police Agency of Binh Chanh District Police has issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused, and issue a temporary detention order for Bui Tien Luc (born in 1986, from Ninh Binh), Nguyen Thanh Phong (born in 1990, from Kien Giang), Tran Thanh Hoa (born in 1991, Thu Duc City) and Phan Thanh Hai (born in 1996, from Dong Nai).
The above defendants were prosecuted for the crime ofBuying and selling body partsperson according to Article 154 of the Penal Code. The above decisions and orders have been approved by the People's Procuracy of the same level.
Accordingly, through the work of mobilizing the masses to denounce crimes, along with information reported by the press, Ho Chi Minh City Police received information related to the human organ trafficking ring.
The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department has directed the Criminal Police Department and Binh Chanh District Police to coordinate with relevant units to urgently verify and investigate, paying special attention to expanding the scope of victims to clarify the entire network.
Ho Chi Minh City Police coordinated with the police of Ninh Binh, Thai Binh, Hung Yen, Ha Tinh, Quang Nam, Binh Dinh, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Kien Giang provinces... to collect documents, evidence, and arrest those in the ring who are on the run.
According to the investigation, in 2017, due to needing money, Bui Tien Luc posted a kidney for sale on social networking sites and was contacted by a man (unknown background) asking to buy the kidney for 250 million VND.
After going to Ho Chi Minh City to sell his kidney, Luc got to know Tran Thanh Hoa, Nguyen Thanh Phong, and Phan Thanh Hai.
Taking advantage of the need for kidney transplants, from around the beginning of 2022, the four people above formed a kidney buying and selling network.
They find kidney sellers according to their requirements (blood type, age, hometown), then report back to the person in need of a kidney transplant to negotiate a price, do tests, and take care of food and accommodation while waiting for a kidney transplant.
In order to cope with and bypass hospital inspections, this group forged necessary documents such as marriage certificates, birth certificates, and confirmation from local authorities for patients to submit to complete kidney donation and kidney receiving procedures.
Initially, the police determined that this group had conducted 28 kidney organ transactions, of which 13 were successful transplants. For each kidney purchase, the defendants "quoted" a price from 400 million VND to more than 1.1 billion VND. However, they only paid the kidney sellers from 260 million VND to 400 million VND, illegally profiting more than 12 billion VND.
Searching the residences of the four suspects and those involved, the authorities seized many objects related to the case.
Currently, the Investigation Police Agency and Binh Chanh District Police continue to consolidate evidence, expand investigation, and strictly handle according to regulations.
