A criminal group for the illegal trafficking of organs for the purpose of transplantation has been taken down in an operation by the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor’s Office.

Since the beginning of the year the group has organized five illegal kidney transplants of Bulgarian citizens in neighbouring Turkey. The organizers helped recipients make contact with donors. The criminal group sought out donors from the minorities, mostly people who owe money, who were paid 5,000-7,000 euro each. The recipients paid 50,000-100,000 euro for a new kidney, 25,000 of which covered the cost of the surgery itself.

During the operation the organizers were caught with a donor in a car at Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the border with Turkey.

There are 1,028 people in Bulgaria in need of a kidney transplant, only 22 kidney transplants have been performed this year, of which only 8 are from a living donor, the remaining 14 are from deceased donors, Bulgarian National TV reports.