ROMANIA — Local police arrested two men after it was discovered that they were trying to sell their children’s organs. The unnamed men arranged to send their children to a local hospital in order to have a kidney harvested from each child, and they sealed the deal by visiting a Notary to sign the paperwork giving their consent for the organ removal operation.
Fearing that the hospital would be overzealous in the procedure and remove other organs and deprive them of additional “income,” the men planned to go to the hospital and keep a watchful eye on surgeons.
The men expected to collect the fee for the kidneys — 12,000 Euros — before the surgery but the plan came crashing down when Romanian organized crime investigators got involved. Police officers, posing as potential buyers, met with the men and the children in a bar to negotiate the deal. The father of one of the children told the undercover officers that he intended to sell his daughter because she was “of no use to him as she was ill,” according local media reports.
Officials are concerned that more parents will turn to selling their children’s organs to make ends meet.