Two Cambodian suspects allegedly involved in
a human organ trafficking ring were arrested in Phnom Penh this week, officials
said yesterday, in what has been hailed as a landmark case in the Kingdom.
Keo
Thea, director of Phnom Penh’s municipal anti-human trafficking and child
protection police, said 40-year-old Yem Phalla and his 29-year-old stepdaughter
Yem Asi Sas were arrested on Tuesday evening at the capital’s Chroy Changva
bridge following allegations that they had acted as brokers in a cross-border
human organ business.
“They
traded human kidneys, and we arrested them based on the victims’ complaints. It
is a crime and they will be punished,” Thea said, adding that it was the first
organ-trafficking case that his unit had uncovered.
Police
have spoken to three of the victims, who showed them the scars from the
operation, but the suspects confessed that they had persuaded at least two
others to undergo the procedure.
According
to Thea, the suspects persuaded victims to give up their kidneys by offering
them a payout ranging from $3,000 to $5,000.
After
arriving in Thailand, the victims were given fake documents by a Thai-based
dealer, with their surname changed to match that of the person in need of a
transplant.
Thea
said the suspects told police that each kidney would be sold for $13,000 but
did not explain how this money was divided with the dealer.
When
the Post visited the suspects’ village in Chroy Changva commune yesterday, a
relative who asked not to be named claimed that at least two family members had
been targeted in the scam.
In an
account confirmed by Thea, the source said the case only came to light after
Phalla’s 23-year-old cousin Krin borrowed $3,000 from him. When he failed to
pay the money back, Phalla stole Krin’s motorbike, prompting a police
complaint.
When
police questioned Krin about his relationship with the suspect, details of the
kidney-trafficking scheme emerged.
“Krin
sold his kidney through the suspect about a month ago. One of his older
brothers also sold his kidney about a year ago,” the source told the Post.
Kdan
Sivutha, a doctor and former director of the National Pediatric Hospital, said
that while there are few short-term effects to having one kidney removed, the
victims may suffer in the long term.
“The
remaining [kidney] will have to work harder.… It will be weaker because only
one side will work, and if they are ingesting bad chemicals," there could
be negative effects, he said.
Internationally,
there is growing demand for organs, which is causing the illicit trade to
explode, according to the Bangkok-based regional office of the UN Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
“The
most common organs sought for in the ‘organ market’ are kidneys, followed by
livers for purposes of transplantation. Such practices have increased
exponentially in recent decades with the growing demand for live-donor organ
transplants. This demand is attributable to an increasing differential between
rates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and deceased donor organ donation,”
UNODC said in an email yesterday.
But
while organ trafficking “follows patterns similar to other forms of human
trafficking”, such as exploiting vulnerable populations, there are also
“significant differences”, the email adds.
“Some
of the actors and modus operandi of this crime stand in sharp contrast to other
forms of trafficking in persons, e.g. the requirement of medical professionals,
the matching of an organ recipient, the duration of exploitation and the
subsequent release of the victim. Knowledge of these practices is not well
known and, resultantly, the response globally has been, at best, uneven.”
In
Cambodia, the trafficking of organs is prohibited under the anti-trafficking
law and is punishable by seven to 15 years’ imprisonment.
But it
is a sentence that has never before been handed down, according to Sok Sam
Ouen, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project.
“We
have never heard of this happening before in Cambodia. Recently, we heard
rumours [that organ trafficking was happening], but we have never seen people
arrested,” Sam Ouen said.
Som
Saret, deputy prosecutor at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said he would need
to see the evidence before he could speculate on what sentence might be
delivered in the event of a trial and guilty verdict.
“Trading
kidneys is a crime, but we do not know how many years the suspects will be
sentenced to. Wait for the documents and the interrogation, but if there is no
firm evidence, we still cannot charge them,” he said.
Kim Sarom and Alice Cuddy
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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