Lebanese mayor arrested in Spain, accused of offering £33,000 to anyone who could get him a liver for a transplant

Wealthy 61-year-old arrested in January with four alleged accomplices

He is accused of offering poor migrants 40,000 euros for a liver transplant

After finding a match with a Romanian, Spanish medics blocked procedure

The wealthy mayor of a Lebanese town has been arrested in Spain over allegations he offered to pay poor migrants 40,000 euros (£33,500) for a liver transplant.
The 61-year-old was arrested in January at Manises Airport, Valencia, and is on bail in the country facing preliminary charges of alleged organ trafficking.
Authorities would not release his name, nor those of his alleged accomplices, because the suspects were the subjects of an ongoing court investigation.

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Deadly trade: The wealthy mayor of a Lebanese town has been arrested in Spain over allegations he offered to pay poor migrants 40,000 euros (£33,500) for a liver transplant

The arrests are the first time that allegations human organ trafficking have been detected in Spain, said Rafael Matesanz, director of the government's National Transplants Organisation.
'The main message is that no country is totally free of this problem, so that everybody should be alert,' he was quoted as saying by CNN.

 

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'Organ trafficking is more or less like slaves of some centuries ago. It's the way some people really control other people. It's exploitation of human beings.'

AN EVIL GLOBAL TRADE

Organ traffickers charge between $100,000 (£60,000) and $200,000 to organise transplants

Donors receive as little as $1000
In 2004, police broke up an international ring which arranged for Israelis to receive kidneys from poor Brazilians at a clinic in South Africa
Brazil, India and Moldova are well-known sources of donors
Growing hospital waiting lists have increased organ trafficking
Source: WHO

Police say the mayor enlisted four alleged accomplices - three Lebanese and a Palestinian - who recruited nine poor people to have liver compatibility tests at a clinic in Valencia last summer.
Just one, a Romanian immigrant, proved to be a match. But when he went with the Lebanese mayor to a Barcelona transplant clinic, medical workers blocked the procedure, police said.
Spanish rules stipulate that organs must only be donated for altruistic reasons by donors who are family members or close friends of the recipient.
Hospital staff quickly discovered that the Lebanese mayor did not have that kind of relationship with his Romanian donor.
The mayor eventually got his liver transplant using tissue donated by his son, who had earlier been turned down after tests in Lebanon where medics had told him he was too young.

Seized: Police arrested the mayor at Manises airport in Valencia when he came back to Spain for a check up
By this time, however, police in Valencia were investigating a report from an NGO that works with immigrants that an Algerian woman had told them people were offering her money for part of her liver.
She was among the nine who had been tested for compatibility with the Lebanese recipient and police traced their investigation back to him and his four alleged accomplices, who live in spain.
Police arrested the mayor when he flew back in to spain for a check up on his new organ.
The five suspects face jail terms of up to 12 years if convicted, although the case is still in its early stages.