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Kidney kingpin' might be in Canada

Police in India close transplant factory

Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service, with files from Reuters Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2008

India's "kidney kingpin" -- the alleged mastermind of an illegal transplant factory near New Delhi supplied with hundreds of organs bought or coerced from the country's poor -- is suspected to have fled to Canada ahead of police raids that shut down the operation last week, Indian police have told Canwest News Service.

Amit Kumar, dubbed "Dr. Horror" in headlines dominating this week's news in India, was reportedly running the operation partly from an unknown location in Canada, where his family is said to be living, and clients were recruited for transplants at a secret operating theatre in Gurgaon, an upscale, high-tech suburb of New Delhi.

An RCMP spokesperson said yesterday Canadian authorities have "limited information" about the Indian police investigation.

"We can, however, say that Interpol-Ottawa has been in communication with Interpol-New Delhi about this case," RCMP Sergeant Sylvie Tremblay said.

Indian police announced on Monday they were launching a manhunt for Mr. Kumar after several of his alleged accomplices were arrested, and revealed he had false passports for Canada and Nepal.

"We are not ruling out the possibility that he may have escaped abroad by using his contacts. However, he will not be able to escape the legal channels," Gurgaon police commissioner Mohinder Lal, who is leading the investigation, said in a statement. "We are not going to let him have an easy run for long. "

Yesterday, Mr. Lal told Canwest News Service "we know that earlier he was staying in Canada" and that efforts are being made, via Interpol, to track Mr. Kumar's possible whereabouts in this country.

"Right now, we are not sure if he is in Canada," Mr. Lal said. "We are trying to get more information through Interpol today."

The Times of India quoted another investigator, Moradabad police superintendent Manjul Saini, as saying: "We are certain his family is based in Canada and he visited them a fortnight ago."

News of the illicit transplant operation and the flight of its alleged ringleader have caused an uproar in India, where some media have reported that Mr. Kumar may have been tipped off in advance and bribed his way out of the country before police raided the secret surgery site and other clinics connected to the transplant scheme.

The operation was revealed last Thursday after a man described as a disgruntled recruiter of kidney "donors" led police to a private home in Gurgaon.

There, investigators discovered a basement room fully equipped with surgical supplies. One doctor and several associates involved in running the transplant business were arrested, according to police.

Five labourers who had just given up kidneys were also discovered and given medical treatment.

Police briefly detained several foreign clients -- two U.S. and three Greek citizens -- who had been staying in an attached guest house and were apparently waiting to become kidney recipients.

In the latest scheme, victims have complained they were taken to the house in Gurgaon with promises of a job, then duped or forced at gunpoint to sell their kidneys.

Labourers were offered around 50,000 rupees ($1,270) for their kidneys. They were sold to wealthy clients for 10 times as much, according to police.

"I was approached by a stranger for a job. When I accepted, I was taken to a room with gunmen," Mohammed Salim told NDTV television. "They tested my blood, gave me an injection and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I had pain in my lower abdomen and I was told that my kidney had been removed."

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Police in southern Soc Trang Province are hunting for the leader of a ring illegally sending local people to China to sell their kidneys.

The investigation was prompted from residents’ complaints accusing a resident of Ho Chi Minh City of conning people in Soc Trang Province’s Trung Binh Commune to sell their kidneys in China for VND70 million (US$4,400) each.

A kidney broker known as T. who lives in HCMC created a scar to persuade his victims that his health was fine after he sold his kidney.

The local government of Trung Binh Commune has identified three victims, said the vice chair-man of the commune’s People’s Committee, Dang Minh Hoang.

“They said they had no choice but risk their life for the money because they were too poor,” he said.

A 34-year-old man known as N., a resident of Soc Trang who lives next to T.’s wife, said T. successfully persuaded him to sell his kidney.

“I was very worried before I lay on the operating table. The person who received a part of my body was an engineer. I heard it cost him VND300 million ($19,000) to replace his kidney, but T. only gave me VND70 million ($4,400),” N. said.

During the time N. stayed in China, he was fed and taken sightseeing.

He also met many Vietnamese people coming to China to sell their kidneys.

After the operation, doctors advised him to abstain from heavy work for six months and sex for three months.

T.’s wife, H., who said she did not know or suspect her husband was a kidney broker, also went to China with a friend to sell their kidneys.

“When I arrived in China, I was afraid at first that my health was affected and I would not be able to raise my two children.”

She said her husband reassured her, because he was still fine after selling his kidney.

H.’s kidney went to a Vietnamese recipient as well.

After the sale, she had enough money to build a house worth VND30 million ($1,900).

Vice director of General Hospital in Soc Trang Province, Le Dinh Hung, said people’s health decreased as a result of losing a kidney and they were more likely to suffer from kidney failure.

It could be fatal to remove kidneys in unlicensed clinics, he added.

The people who had had the operation said their brokers bought air tickets to Hanoi for them.

They then went to the northern Lang Son Province by bus.

Finally they crossed over the border to China by boat at night.

Colonel Nguyen Phuc Thao, director of Soc Trang Province’s police department, said they had asked the local authorities to follow up on the tip offs.

Tran Van Hieu, director of Trung Binh Commune’s police unit added they were conducting a campaign to educate local people not to sell kidneys.

Vietnam faces a serious short-age of kidneys, corneas and livers for organ transplant, according to the Health Ministry.

The country’s Law on Human Organ Donation came into effect last July.

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