On Saturday, the 29th of July 2023, Indonesian police announced the arrest of three immigration officers in Bali for their suspected involvement in an illegal organ trafficking ring that transported many victims to Cambodia to sell their kidneys.
The action is being taken as authorities tighten down on the alleged illicit organ trafficking ring, which was the subject of last week’s arrests of 12 people, including a police officer and an immigration official known only as AH, allegedly involved in the exportation of 122 victims.
The three Bali immigration officials are suspected of cooperating with AH, who reportedly received bribes to allow victims enticed by the trafficking ring to easily pass through immigration inspections to Cambodia for kidney extraction procedures.
The chief of the general crimes unit for the Jakarta police, Hengki Haryadi, told the media that “(they) would be brought to Jakarta this afternoon and would be under Jakarta police custody.”
Between March and June, Haryadi claimed that at least 18 of the kidney donor victims travelled from Bali to Cambodia.
Authorities believe there are more victims and are appealing to them to come forward.
Some organ trafficking ring members were once donors who switched to recruiting roles by luring and exploiting victims on Facebook and WhatsApp groups.
According to Haryadi, the organ trafficking ring has been in business since 2019, making IDR 24.4 billion (USD 1.58 million).
For each kidney, the traffickers were paid IDR 200 million; they kept IDR 65 million and gave the rest to the victims.
According to authorities, the organs were taken from the patient at Preah Ket Mealea Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Organ trade is prohibited in Indonesia, and the ten syndicate members apprehended last week may receive 15 years in prison and fines totaling IDR 600 million if proven guilty of breaking the nation’s anti-human trafficking laws.
The police officer is charged with hindering the investigation and accepting kickbacks to assist the alleged traffickers in changing their locations. If proven guilty, those Bali immigration officers may spend five years behind bars.
Interested in this topic? Check out our other articles from Social Expat:
