Ukhurl, November 5: An organ transplant racket was busted in Assam’s Nagaon district following the arrest of three traffickers.
Accroding to reports, the racket was exposed after an awareness meeting on drugs and illegal liquor was organized by the ‘Village Women’s Defence Force’ in the area. During the meeting, the illicit kidney trade was exposed.
Leading the operation over the last few days, Nagaon Senior Suprerintendent of Police Swapanil Deka unearthed the entire web of the organ transplant racket, which had been in operation for several years in the area.
“Once we came to know about it, Nagaon Police started a thorough investigation. We arrested three suspected gang members, identified as Dharani Das alias Bogamula, Mahendra Das and Deep Das today,” the SP said.
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Investigation reveled, Hazrika from Baihata Chariali in Kamrup and Daluapgu from Guwhati are also suspected to be involved in the racket.
The illegal trade has flourished in the poverty stricken village near Nagaon, where improvished families are coerced into selling their kidneys.
“We have many such families in the village where three members of a five-member unit have already sold their kidneys. We are gradually having a disabled society, which has been created artificially due to extreme poverty,” said Dipu Das the Huz-Kaibarta village Headman.
“The kidney gang offers money to these people and take them to Kolkata through some commissioned local brokers of the village, and force them to sell their kidneys for Rs 3-5 lakh,” he added.
However, the victims claim that only a fraction of the promised sum is received with middlemen taking significant deductions.
A local from the village also mentioned, “ In several cases, these donor people run out of money very soon as they are heavy drinkers. And there is an illicit liquor trade also going on in the area. ”
He said the villagers were compelled to keep silent as they were threatened with dire consequences by the broker gang.
Further investigations are ongoing to uncover the wider interstate connections of the racket.