Hyderabad: Police in Hyderabad claim to have busted a thriving human organ transplantation racket with the arrest of 13 people.

The Additional Commissioner of Hydrabad Police, A K Khan, said the police also seized 30 fake rubber stamps of government departments, cell phones and computer systems from the accused. The gang has been in operation for the last two years and had so far arranged kidneys for 51 patients, according to him.

"The 51 cases that we have identified till now are all from the five hospitals in the city. They include both co-operative and other private hospitals in the city. The accused have given the statement that the doctors of the hospitals were aware of the racket and used to take commission apart from the fee for surgery," Khan added.

The arrested men include seven donors and six middlemen who fabricated government documents and illegally arranged kidneys for transplantation.

Officials informed that the gang used to arrange donors for patients who underwent kidney transplantation in five co-operative hospitals and created fake documents to show that the donors and patients were close relatives.

The donors received around Rs 80,000 while the middlemen pocketed Rs 50,000.

Unauthorised transplantation of kidneys and other organs is a crime under an Indian law, "Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994". It stipulates that only a person related or emotionally attached to the recipient and who is willing to act as a donor can be allowed to donate his organ.

But extreme penury and unemployment drive many to desperation, forcing them to sell their organs.

ANI