Court orders seven-day remand against alleged organ trader

The man who surrendered himself to the police yesterday, claiming that he was involved in an international human organ trade, is in remand for seven days to facilitate police investigation.

The order against the 48-year-old man was issued by the Assistant Registrar of the Kuching Subordinate Courts, Mosidi Husseini, who sat as a magistrate, following an application by investigating officer, ASP Nor Elyanis Mohd Yusoff.

Sarawak Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Dev Kumar M M Sree yesterday confirmed the arrest of the 48-year-old man, who surrendered himself at the Kuching district police headquarters here at about 1.45 pm.

In a statement issued following the arrest, Dev Kumar said the suspect turned up at the police headquarters after knowing that he was being hunted by police following a claim he made to an undercover reporter from The Sun that he brokered sales of kidneys obtained from poor victims.

Police are investigating the case under Section 15 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.

The Sun reported in an article on Aug 8 that the man had told its journalist that he could arrange illegal transplant tourism packages for Britons.

In the article, the man was described as a sinister broker who had masterminded 45 illicit kidney sales and had used Facebook to lure poverty-stricken victims from around the world to sell their organs to desperate patients.