China
Kidney trafficking ring cracked in Hangzhou
Xinhua, May 30, 2012
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Police in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province have busted a gang of human organ traffickers and caught two suspects, local authorities announced on Tuesday.
The crime was exposed recently by a netizen who infiltrated a "kidney trafficking plant" by pretending to be a kidney seller.
It is revealed that many desperate young men who wanted to sell their kidneys for purposes such as paying debt lived in the base, located in the city's Jianggan district.
Traffickers paid an average of 35,000 yuan (5,521.5 U.S. dollars) for each kidney, while patients typically are charged 200,000 to 500,000 yuan for the organs on the black market.
The base has connections with many cities across China.
Hangzhou police launched an investigation immediately after the case was exposed and the two major suspects were caught in central China's Hunan Province.
Police are continuing to investigate and are dedicated to tracking down the other suspects, they said.
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