Organ trafficking: Kerala police SIT in Tamil Nadu for investigation

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kochi Police probing illegal organ harvesting from people, including Malayalis, arrived in Tamil Nadu on Sunday after the arrest of two people.

The SIT is in Tamil Nadu to locate agents involved in organ trafficking and their victims following a tip-off. Police launched an investigation into international organ trafficking after arresting Sabith Nasser, believed to be one of the trafficking agents. During the investigation, Sabith's financial transactions will be examined and the identities of people in her network will be verified by the team.

Sabith was arrested last week at the Kochi International Airport by the Kerala Police when he was returning from Iran via Kuwait. He was arrested under IPC Section 370 (trafficking in human beings) and Section 19 (commercial dealings with human organs) of the Human Organ Transplantation Act.

Sabith lured individuals from Kerala, Bengaluru and Hyderabad to donate their organs by offering them substantial sums of money. Police say he admitted to trafficking around 20 people to Iran as organ donors while he worked there.

He also claimed that the trafficking was facilitated by a man from Hyderabad. In his statement, Sabith confirmed that the victims were mainly from Hyderabad and Bengaluru, with one individual from Kerala's north Palakkad district.

Sabith Nasar testified that his involvement in the organ mafia began in Hyderabad, where he linked up with smuggler gangs. He also informed the police that most of the organ traffickers involved were youths from Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Sabith has been reported to have crucial links to international organ trafficking networks stretching to Sri Lanka, Kuwait and Iran.

Meanwhile, the SIT on Thursday arrested Sajith Shyam, a close associate of Sabith in connection with the case.