Cut price: organs for sale

A BRITISH-BORN South African man appeared in a Johannesburg court yesterday accused of being part of an international human organ trafficking syndicate.

Roderick Frank Kimberley, aged 58, handed himself into police after a warrant was issued for his arrest, said police spokeswoman Mary Martins-Engelbrecht.

She said he was “believed to be one of the main members” of the international syndicate dealing in human organs.

Kimberley, who faces charges under South Africa’s Human Tissue Act, was released on bail of £6,000. He is scheduled to reappear in court on December 10.

His arrest follows that of two Israelis and nine Brazilians in Brazil and two Israelis in South Africa on Wednesday.

They are all suspected of participating in an international human organ trafficking organisation stretching from South America to South Africa.

The group, allegedly led by the Israelis, is believed to have scoured the Brazilian cities of Pernambuco state over the past year searching for people willing to sell their kidneys, Brazilian authorities said.

“In all, they managed to talk 30 men into selling one of their kidneys,” Wilson Salles Damazio, head of the local Federal Police office, said from his office in the state capital of Recife.

“Each one received between £3,000 and £6,000.

“Those that passed a thorough medical checkup were sent to Durban, South Africa where their kidney was extracted,” Mr Damazio said. “After a brief recovery period they were flown back to Brazil.”

Ms Martins-Englebrecht, who described the investigation as “going well”, said she expected South African police to make more arrests.

Earlier this week, an Israeli man, Agania Robel, 41, was arrested minutes after being discharged following a kidney transplant, allegedly organised through the syndicate.

He appeared in court along with a South African of Israeli descent, Sushan Meir, aged 49.

South African police have interviewed several Brazilians and Israelis staying in Durban, allegedly brought there to sell their organs.

Police are expected to turn their attention next to medical workers in two Durban hospitals.

St Augustine’s hospital has confirmed that it is helping police with their inquiries. The investigating officer, Captain Helberg, has said that the investigation into the matter does not involve the hospital being party to any illegal transactions.

Investigators believe the illegal trade has been going on for more than a year and more arrests are expected.

There appears to be a buoyant market for the sale and purchase of human organs.

Thor Anderson, a London-based property tycoon, has even endorsed the transaction.

Last March, he paid stg£25,000 to travel to Pakistan to buy a kidney from a 22-year-old woman. She got a fee of £3,000.

He said: “I won’t lose any sleep over what I did. The girl needed money and I needed my life back.”

One Brazilian man explained how he sold his kidney to an alleged international human organ trafficking syndicate operating in South Africa.

He showed his scar on Brazilian television and said he had been paid $13,000 to have his organ removed in the South African town of Durban.

People desperate for organ transplants reportedly paid up to $120,000.

The man, whose identity was disguised, told Brazil’s Globo news, that he was from Recife, in the poor north-eastern state of Pernambuco.

He said he had jumped at the chance to earn so much money due to his poverty and said his kidney had been transplanted into an Iraqi.

In many Western countries, there are long waiting lists for human organs such as kidneys, livers and bone marrow.

South Africa hospitals have a worldwide reputation for their expertise in the field of organ transplants.