KOCHI/ NEDUMBASSERY: The head of the international organ trade is a native of Ernakulam settled in Iran. The police have started the process to bring him home. It is reported that one more person in the racket based in Hyderabad has been arrested. He is a friend of Sabith Nasser (30), a resident of Thrissur Valapad Edamuttam, who was arrested the other day. Sabith was produced in Angamaly Magistrate Court yesterday and remanded. Central agencies may take up the investigation as it is an international case.

Sabith, who reached Kochi from Iran via Kuwait on Saturday night, was detained by the immigration department and handed over to the police. He said that twenty people, including a Malayali, were brought to Iran for organ trade. The police suspect that there may be more victims. The Nedumbassery police have collected the details of the victims.

The Hyderabad gang took people to Iran from Nedumbassery via Kuwait. A native of Palakkad who was in financial crisis was trafficked a year ago. The victims are mostly women. Police have received a tip that two people have died in Iran but have not confirmed it. The victims trafficked to Iran are mainly people from the cities of Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

The mafia makes a package with the patient for Rs 50 lakh and pays the donor only Rs 7 lakh plus hospital expenses. 25 lakhs per person will fall into their pockets. Sabith states that he has been associated with the organ trafficking gang for five years.

Left to sell organ and eventually became an agent

Sabith flew to Sri Lanka in 2019 to raise money by selling his organ after a financial collapse. He was brought to Sri Lanka by the Hyderabad team. Madhu met him here and brought him closer to the racket. When Sabith realized that he would get a huge amount of money if he acted as an intermediary, he immediately turned to organ trafficking. The initial finding is that he has earned crores. Sabith spent most of his time in Iran after his wife left him. Sabith was the person in charge of looking after the donors coming from India to Iran.