Rawat Police Expose Illegal Kidney Transplant Gang

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Rawat Police in Rawalpindi disrupted an illegal kidney transplant operation on August 7, 2025, arresting one suspect while six others, including a surgeon, escaped during a raid.

On August 7, 2025, Rawat Police in Rawalpindi conducted a raid in Phase-VIII of Bahria Town, uncovering a gang involved in illegal organ transplantation. The operation led to the arrest of one suspect, identified as Zafarullah Khan Cheema, while six others, including a surgeon named Dr. Manzoor and accomplices, fled the scene, according to The Nation. A police spokesperson reported that a tip-off about suspicious activity prompted the raid, during which officers found a man, Hanan Zahid, tied to a stretcher and receiving medication via a drip, per Pakistan Today. The victim revealed he was lured to the site with a fake job offer, sedated, and subjected to medical tests for kidney removal.

The rescued man, a resident of Bahria Town, recounted being taken to a hospital in PWD for tests after being drugged. He awoke to find himself restrained, with the gang claiming his kidney needed removal due to dysfunction, a pretext for their illegal operation, as detailed in The Nation. The arrested suspect confessed that the gang sold kidneys to wealthy local and foreign nationals, with police recovering medical equipment, including kidney transplantation tools, from the site, according to The Express Tribune. This marks the second such incident in Rawalpindi within a week, following a similar bust by Airport Police on August 3, 2025, where four suspects were arrested, per Pakistan Today.

The Punjab Human Organ Transplantation Authority (PHOTA), established under the Punjab Human Organ Transplantation Act 2010, has been cracking down on such rackets, with a 2020 operation in Lahore exposing similar networks operating in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Rawat Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) and are intensifying efforts to apprehend the escaped suspects, including Dr. Manzoor, Imran Arshad, and others, as noted by UrduPoint. City Police Officer Khalid Mehmood Hamdani commended the team’s swift action, emphasizing that protecting citizens from such exploitation remains a priority, per UrduPoint. Ongoing investigations aim to dismantle the broader network behind this illicit trade, with authorities vowing stricter enforcement to curb illegal organ trafficking.