ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has dismantled an alleged human placenta smuggling network operating in Islamabad and arrested five suspects, including three Chinese nationals, the agency said on Friday.
Human placenta is an organ that develops during pregnancy to supply oxygen and nutrients to the fetus. After childbirth, it is normally discarded, donated for research, or used for approved medical purposes with informed consent.
Scientists use healthy placentas to study pregnancy pathologies, genetics, immunology and stem cell therapies, while expectant parents can choose to donate their placenta through authorized organ procurement organizations to help heal burn victims or assist in reconstructive eye and wound surgeries. In some markets, human or animal placental extracts are also incorporated into anti-aging creams and serums to improve skin elasticity, firmness, and hydration.
The FIA said it raided a house in Islamabad’s upscale F-7 sector late on Thursday night and found a “complete plant for illegal processing of human organs, especially human placenta,” at the said house.
“It was revealed that the accused used to illegally process and dry human placenta in the said plant,” the agency said.
“The finished products were exported to Vietnam under the name ‘She Placenta’.”
The suspects arrested during the raid included three Chinese and two Pakistani nationals, according to the FIA.
On the pointation of the same network, another house located in E-11 sector was also raided, where a similar processing center was found to be operational.
“Processing equipment and finished goods were recovered from the suspects,” the FIA said.
“A case has been registered against the suspects under relevant sections of the Human Organs Transplantation Act, 2010.”
Pakistan has also previously busted networks involved in human organ trafficking.
In Feb., police in Islamabad’s twin city of Rawalpindi recovered a laborer abducted by a gang involved in surgically extracting kidneys of poor workers, who were in good health to transplant them into rich patients from abroad, according to local media.
In a similar case, the FIA busted another gang of illegal kidney transplanters in Islamabad’s G-16 sector. The illegal kidney transplant center was operating in the basement of a private residence.
