Police thwart organ-selling gang

A gang of 16 people has been arrested for running illegal kidney transplant operations in Changzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, the provincial public security bureau announced on Monday.

Police in Changzhou rescued 20 young men who were being held by the suspects. They also arrested four human organ transplant intermediaries.

Twelve kidney transplant operations had been conducted, one of which took place in Indonesia. One person was sent there, and his kidney was sold to a foreign recipient, said the provincial public security bureau.

The gang contacted potential kidney donors, most of whom were in financial trouble, through online chat rooms. The donors were asked to live together after taking physical examinations and were supervised by the suspects.

The suspects contacted recipients and illegal organ transplant clinics through the Internet.

However, local public security bureau refused to release more details.

Wang Xing, a Beijing-based lawyer from Hui Cheng Law Firm specializing in criminal cases, said that the Internet has provided a great deal of opportunity for human organ traders to commit crimes.

"The current punishment regulated by China's Criminal Law is not strict enough, and the country has no specific judicial interpretations to regulate crimes involving human organ trades, which is a big problem that needs to be solved urgently," said Wang.

According to the law, people involved in the illegal organ trade could face sentences of at least five years in prison.

In 2007, the Chinese government issued the first regulations on human organ transplants, banning organizations and individuals from trading human organs in any form.