The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), working with the Human Organ Transplantation Authority (HOTA), says it has dismantled an organised network that carried out illegal commercial kidney transplants in Islamabad. Five suspects have been arrested. The agency recovered Rs1 million in cash, impounded three vehicles and froze properties worth Rs87.5 million.
According to an FIA press release, investigators raided a residence in PWD Society and found that recipient Mohammad Qasim had allegedly received a kidney from donor Ramzan Arshad, in violation of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 2010. Three suspects were arrested during the raid, and two more were taken into custody later. A court has granted the FIA seven days of physical remand.
Investigators allege the recipient paid Rs3 million in cash. The donor was promised Rs400,000, of which Rs340,000 was to go to him and Rs60,000 was to be split among three agents as commission. The FIA says the network arranged donors, performed transplants in private houses and used people with no recognised medical qualifications or certification.
The agency also claims the network arranged mandatory tests, including tissue typing, cross-match, PRA and HLA, illegally through a hospital. To get around legal requirements, it allegedly submitted donor samples under the names of the recipient’s relatives, backed by fake referral letters, so the case would look like a lawful transplant between close relatives.
The network allegedly operated in PWD Society, Bahria Phase IV and Peshawar. The FIA says it included agents, a doctor, a nurse, an anaesthesia provider, a medicine supplier, a laboratory test facilitator and a dialysis provider. A technician at an Islamabad hospital allegedly arranged dialysis for recipients, and patients whose condition worsened after surgery were moved to another hospital.
During the operation, the FIA recovered Rs1 million in cash and seized a Changan Oshan X7 and two Honda Civic cars. It froze their registration and transfer through the Excise office. It also froze two Islamabad properties it says were bought with illegal proceeds: a 10 marla house in Media Town worth Rs62.5 million and a five marla house in Jinnah Garden Phase I worth Rs25 million.
An FIR has been registered under Sections 9, 10 and 11(a)(ii) of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 2010, read with Sections 34, 419 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The FIA has also sought the suspects’ banking records and is considering separate money laundering proceedings.
Teams from HOTA, the Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan inspected the facility, which has been sealed. Raids are under way to arrest the remaining suspects. Deputy Director Faizan Mir of the FIA Anti-Corruption Circle, Islamabad, is supervising the investigation
Our News Desk represents a rapidly expanding frontier in contemporary journalism, focusing on the intersection of technological advancement, geopolitical narratives, and the shifting dynamics of public information.
