Police caution Ghanaians of some organ harvesting syndicates within Ghana

Police have raised alarm about rife human trafficking syndicates operating heavily in parts of the country.

The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service explained that syndicates typically lure members of the public with offers from abroad for illegal organ harvesting.

Chief Superintendent Mike Baah, who heads the unit, said there were syndicates that sought to lure unsuspecting victims abroad with juicy job offers and deals, and urged Ghanaians to be alert. He said the syndicates were well connected and powerful and added that people must be careful of their activities.

At the opening of a three-day capacity-building training programme for law enforcement officials in the Central Region on Wednesday, July 21, 2021, Chief Supt Baah said human organs, such as the kidney, were sold for between $250,000 and $500,000 on the black market.

Illegal organ trafficking can involve the coercion of people to give up their organs, in order to be sold on the black market.

The Global Financial Integrity believes that around 10% of all organ donations are made via illegal avenues, with kidneys being the highest-trafficked part of the body. Kidneys remain the most trafficked organ world over because a patient or donor can survive with only one of them.

It is estimated that approximately 7,000 kidneys are harvested and trafficked illegally each year.  Indeed in 2010, the World Health Organization obtained some 11,000 illegally harvested organs, most of them from countries involved in conflicts.

The recent migration of Africans to Europe has fanned the trade, with migrants who do not get jobs being sold for their organs.

In other instances when a migrant can’t raise the money required to facilitate their journey across the Mediterranean Sea, they are forced to give up their organs. It explains why Egypt and Libya remain some of the largest markets in Africa.

By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh

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