An armed guard told him his kidney had been removed: Theft ring for kidney transplants

As the anesthetic wore off, 25-year-old Naseem Mohammed said, he felt an acute pain in the lower left side of his abdomen. Fighting drowsiness, Naseem, a day laborer, fumbled beneath the unfamiliar green medical gown and traced his fingers over a bandage attached with surgical tape. An armed guard by the door told him that his kidney had been removed.

He was the last of about 500 Indians whose kidneys were removed by a team of doctors running an illegal transplant operation, supplying kidneys to rich Indians and foreigners, police officials said. A few hours after his operation last Thursday, the police raided the clinic and moved him to a government hospital. He has been recuperating in a Gurgaon hospital.

He had had no idea that it was possible to sell a kidney. He had been picking up odd jobs in Delhi for the past two years and had been sending money to his family in Gujarat.

Two weeks ago, he was approached by a bearded man as he waited at the early-morning labor market by the train station. The man offered him a generous deal: six weeks of painting work, with free food and lodging. He was driven four or five hours, to a remote bungalow, where he was placed in a room with four other young men, under the watch of two armed guards.

"When I asked why I had been locked inside, the guards slapped me and said they would shot me if I asked any more questions," he said. The men were given food to cook and periodically nurses would take blood samples. One by one, they were taken away for operations.

"They told us not to speak to each other or we would pay with our lives," he said. "I was the last one to be taken."

Advice to people needing a kidney: Explore kidney sharing, as described here recently.

Browse for related stories in the index at the very bottom of this page, or read a kidney swap story.

Thanks to Amelia Gentleman for the source article in the Jan. 30 issue of the New York Times.