PETALING JAYA • A Malaysian is reportedly involved in organ trafficking by luring poverty-stricken victims from around the world to sell their organs, according to a British newspaper.
The Sun reported that the man had boasted to the British paper that he had masterminded 45 illicit kidney sales.
The report claimed he began using a Facebook group two years ago to buy and sell kidneys, sourcing potential organ donors from the poor.
"They're all serious. Nobody wants to sell their kidney if there is no financial problem," he allegedly told The Sun in Kuching, capital of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak.
The Sun claimed that the man had boasted to them that he had more than 100 potential kidney sellers.
He also allegedly has a "surplus" of potential kidney sellers in India, Africa, South America and all over Asia.
The man claimed his fees include bribes for a clinic in Manila in the Philippines to perform the operation.
The 48-year-old father of four, who has no medical experience, was met by The Sun's undercover reporters in Sarawak in which they had pretended to be kidney buyers for a relative in Britain who needed a transplant.
The report said the man initially charged a fee of £55,000 (S$98,550) for supplying the kidney and an additional £65,000 for payment to the clinic but eventually dropped the total fee to £85,000.
The Sun claimed the entire fee is paid directly to the Malaysian.
According to the report, the man said that the rules banning transplant operations between donors and recipients who are not friends or related by blood are sorted out with bribes and forged papers.
"In Manila, cash is king. Money talks," he was quoted as saying.
According to The Sun, the Malaysian has allegedly been involved in the illegal trade since 2010.
His operation was then centred in China in which he had asked patients to leave China within two weeks to "dispose of the evidence" even though they were still not completely healed.
However, the report said the man stopped his China operations in 2016 when he heard that kidneys were mostly taken from the Uighur communities who were held in concentration camps.
He then reportedly moved his operations to the Philippines. He also told The Sun that he was well aware of the risks of this illegal trade.
Organ trading is illegal in Malaysia, while under Philippine law, human trafficking for organs could land the man 20 years in prison.
"I'm doing a risky job dealing with the kidney buyer and seller. When you get caught, it's years in jail," he reportedly said.
Ms Fiona Loud, policy director of Kidney Care UK, said the illicit trade carried out by brokers such as the Malaysian man is "completely unethical, immoral, criminal and dangerous".
"No matter how tempted people might be to get a kidney on the black market, it doesn't usually lead to a good outcome," she told The Sun.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
