Indonesia crackdown widens as Cambodia organ trafficking case ensnares law enforcement officials

The move comes after Indonesia police smashed a human trafficking ring involving law enforcement officials who sent people to Cambodia to sell their kidneys
In a regional effort, Asean leaders in May agreed to increase cooperation in border management to combat human trafficking
Updated: 6:33pm, 26 Jul, 2023

Police in Indonesia have vowed to step up their battle against organ trafficking after smashing a syndicate involving law enforcement officials and people smugglers who sent 122 poverty-stricken nationals to Cambodia to sell their kidneys.

Authorities last week arrested a policeman, an immigration officer and 10 traffickers, accusing the gang of hiring people from across Indonesia through social media and sending them to Phnom Penh’s military-run Preah Ket Mealea Hospital for kidney transplant surgery.
https://www.scmp.com/print/week-asia/he ... -officials

Quelle surprise.

Alleged Indonesian organ trafficker says he sold his kidney to a Singapore buyer
Hanim said he contacted the administrator of a Facebook group via Messenger in 2018, expressing his intention to sell his kidney.
Arlina Arshad
Indonesia Bureau Chief
Updated 6 Hours Ago

JAKARTA – Faced with mounting debts, 41-year-old Hanim had sold his kidney to an organ-trafficking ring in 2019. He then joined the syndicate as a coordinator and helped cash-strapped Indonesians do the same.

Prospective peddlers typically contacted the syndicate on private Facebook kidney donor groups and provided their personal details such as age, gender and blood type.

They would then gather at a rented house in Bekasi, outside Jakarta, and fly to the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh from Indonesia’s capital or Bali for a medical check-up at a military hospital there.

Once they passed the health test, they would be matched with buyers, who hailed from various countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and China, according to Hanim and the Indonesian police.

Recipients paid 200 million rupiah (S$17,700) for a kidney.

“My kidney was sold to a patient from Singapore,” Hanim told local television media from the Jakarta police headquarters in a video posted on YouTube on Sunday.

“The sellers would meet the buyers, sign a donor agreement and set a date for the operation. Nobody was allowed to visit them. Sellers would be paid after the transplant was completed and stay at the hospital for around 10 days to recover,” he added.

Earlier in July, and 122 donors later, the Indonesian police busted the syndicate. Twelve people were detained and named suspects, including nine who, like Hanim, had exchanged their kidneys for cash.

The ring involved a policeman and an immigration officer too.

The immigration officer, whom the police identified by his initials A.H, was paid 3 million to 3.5 million rupiah for every donor he helped to clear immigration at the Bali airport.

But even this officer had no clue the donors were involved in organ trafficking, as they had lied to him that they were going to work for online gambling operators in Cambodia.

All the suspects face up to 15 years in jail and a fine of up to 600 million rupiah for violating Indonesia’s human-trafficking law.

According to Indonesian police, sellers received 165 million rupiah and the traffickers pocketed 35 million rupiah to cover such expenses as air tickets and passport-processing fees.

Police chief commissioner Hengki Haryadi, Jakarta’s police director of the general crimes investigation unit, told reporters that the sellers included a teacher, a security guard and even a master’s student.

Most of them desperately needed money, making them vulnerable targets of the syndicate,he added.

Mr Hengki also said initial investigations showed that illegal organ trading “may have been going on for a long time and (the ring that was busted is) not the only syndicate”.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-as ... pore-buyer

Indonesian police crack down on traffickers who sent 122 people to sell their kidneys in Cambodia
Indonesian police are investigating the illegal trade in human organs involving police and immigration officers who were accused of helping traffickers send 122 Indonesians to a hospital in Cambodia to sell their kidneys
Niniek Karmini
2 days ago

Indonesian police are investigating the illegal trade of human organs involving police and immigration officers who were accused of helping traffickers send 122 Indonesians to a hospital in Cambodia to sell their kidneys, police said Tuesday.

Police paraded the 12 suspects at a news conference on July 20.

“There have been kidney trafficking transactions at the Cambodia’s state-run Preah Ket Mealea Hospital,” said Krishna Murti, the National Police head of international relations division. “We have been communicating and closely cooperating with the Cambodian police.”

The World Health Organization first prohibited payments for organs in 1987 and many countries subsequently codified the prohibition into their national laws. WHO estimated in 2008 that 5% of all transplants performed worldwide were illegal, and living donor kidneys is the most commonly reported form of organ trade.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ap-w ... 81460.html

not this hospital's first rodeo...from nearly 10 years ago https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... ark-secret

Khmer_Risotto wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 10:11 am not this hospital's first rodeo...from nearly 10 years ago https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... ark-secret

Very informative.
From the above link to the August 2014 article:

Among those arrested on Saturday was the director of Preah Ket Mealea Hospital, 54-year-old Lieutenant General Ly Sovan, and the hospital’s deputy director, 58-year-old Major General Keo Davuth.

Others arrested at the hospital included 28-year-old Dr Choun Bunhak; Chinese national Dr Zeng Fanjun, 51; and Dr Nhu Ding Huu, 62, and Ma Reng Qiang, 79, who the statement referred to as Chinese-Vietnamese nationals.

Another “Chinese-Vietnamese national”, 30-year-old shoe factory worker Trang Hong Lue, was also arrested at Dalin Cafe in the capital’s Prampi Makara district.

The Chinese and Vietnamese embassies could not be reached yesterday.

The trafficking of organs is prohibited under the anti-trafficking law and is punishable by seven to 15 years in prison.

According to local media site Deum Ampil, three to five people had their kidneys removed last year at a Chinese-donated building at the hospital.

The report claimed that each kidney was sold for between $35,000 and $40,000 to Chinese nationals, while the kidney sellers were paid only $5,000.

From the hospital website: http://preahketmealea.com/health/page/2/

Preah Keto Mealea Hospital is a national army hospital that provides free medical treatment to the military and free treatment to the general public.

July 28, 2023
Hospital refutes allegations it is involved in illegal organ trade
Preah Ket Mealea Hospital management has refuted claims that it conducts illegal organ trade or performs unlawful kidney transplant surgeries.

“There is no kidney transplant sale or illegal organ trading at the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital in Phnom Penh,” said Major General Khieng Vuthy, the hospital’s deputy chief, responding to reports in the Indonesian media and by Indonesian authorities of its alleged involvement.

The hospital is also known as Military Hospital 179.

Maj Gen Vuthy said that Preah Ket Mealea Hospital, a state hospital, has been providing all kinds of disease treatments including for heart diseases and providing dialysis.

He added that the hospital did not traffic or sell kidney transplants or organs as reported by the foreign media.
In full: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501332638/ ... gan-trade/

Kidney trade: Police seeks Interpol red notice against suspect
9 hours ago
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian police is seeking to get an Interpol red notice issued against a suspect connected to an illegal kidney trade racket, who is believed to be a part of an international syndicate.

"We are seeking a red notice of the Interpol against a suspect known as Miss Huang," director of General Criminal Investigation of the Jakarta Metro Police, Senior Commissioner Hengki Haryadi, informed here on Friday.

According to Haryadi, the suspect played a key role in arranging kidney transplantations in Cambodia.

The Indonesian police is working closely with the authorities in Cambodia to arrest Miss Huang.

"We have intensive coordination with the Indonesian Police's International Relations Division and the Cambodian defense attaché," he said.
https://en.antaranews.com/news/289728/k ... st-suspect

CamboJA News journalists are getting the usual runaround from Cambodian officials in today's latest news on the kidney trafficking investigation instigated by Indonesian police.

Cambodian Police Confirm Investigation Into Kidney Trafficking in Phnom Penh, Hospital Official Denies Knowledge
29 July 2023 11:48 AM
Eung Sea
Leila Goldstein
Cambodian police are investigating alleged illegal organ trading at Preah Ket Mealea Hospital in cooperation with Indonesian police, while a hospital official claimed to have no knowledge of the sale of kidney transplants at the hospital.

Indonesian authorities say traffickers sent 122 Indonesian victims to the Cambodian state-run hospital, also known as Military Hospital 179, to have their kidneys removed and sold.

Indonesian police arrested 12 people, three of whom were arrested in Cambodia, according to the Associated Press. Nine of the suspects were organ trade victims who allegedly lured other people to sell their kidneys through social media, while an additional suspect allegedly sent the victims to Cambodia. An Indonesian police officer and an immigration officer were also arrested, and victims were promised about $9,000 each.

Spokesperson for the Cambodian National Police Chhay Kim Khoeun said the police are investigating the case and cooperating with Indonesian police regarding the arrests of the organ trafficking suspects. However, he said he could not confirm the number of suspects in the case arrested in Cambodia.

Keo Thea, the chief of Phnom Penh’s Municipal Anti-trafficking Department, told CamboJA on Wednesday that his office sent a request to the National Police Commissioner for support and that police are working with the Indonesian Embassy in Cambodia to investigate the case.

“We must work carefully and strictly on this case as Cambodia has a law on kidney and organ donation,” he said. “If we found that any hospital in Cambodia was [involved in] trafficking kidneys, we must take any legal action as it violates Cambodian law.”

He noted that while donating organs is legal in Cambodia, trafficking of organs violates the law. Police in his department will work with the relevant agencies to inspect private clinics and hospitals for any complicity in the illegal organ trade in Cambodia, he said.

Seng Chhun, deputy director of Preak Ket Mealea Hospital, said he did not know about illegal organ trading in the hospital.

“I do not know about kidney transplant sales or illegal organ trading [at Preah Ket Mealea Hospital]. I can answer only about diseases. I am busy now,” he said before hanging up the phone on Thursday.
https://cambojanews.com/cambodian-polic ... knowledge/