Translated with AI
In Uzbekistan, law enforcement agencies have disrupted the activities of an organized crime group involved in the illegal transplantation of human organs and tissues. Fergana.ru reported this, citing the press services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Service.
According to the agencies, as a result of joint investigative operations, it was established that between 2023 and 2025, a group of 12 people organized illegal kidney and liver transplants on 32 patients.
The investigation established that the group's members resided in Tashkent and the Tashkent, Fergana, Bukhara, and Kashkadarya regions. They used social media to find people with kidney and liver diseases and persuaded healthy individuals to sell their organs for monetary compensation. To perform the surgeries, the perpetrators forged documents, presenting the donors as relatives of the recipients, and exploited their connections abroad. The transplants were performed at a private clinic in a neighboring country.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, some of the funds received from patients were used to pay for medical services and reward donors, with the remainder distributed among the group members. Furthermore, the criminals illegally sold powerful painkillers at inflated prices to patients whose conditions did not improve.
A criminal case has been opened against the defendants under Articles 133 ("Violation of the Terms and Procedures for Organ and Tissue Transplantation"), 228 ("Forgery and Sale of Documents"), 246 ("Smuggling"), and 273 ("Illegal Drug Trafficking") of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. The case materials have been submitted to court for consideration on the merits.
Law enforcement agencies have called on citizens who have suffered from the activities of this group or similar schemes to contact their nearest police department or call the hotline 102.
According to the law on organ and tissue transplantation adopted in Uzbekistan in May 2022, surgeries can only be performed in state-run medical institutions approved by the government. The sale of organs, their export abroad, and donation by Uzbek citizens to foreign recipients are strictly prohibited.
