Jordanian authorities arrested several men for allegedly luring poor people to donate their kidneys to be smuggled outside the kingdom, a health ministry official said Monday. Dr. Moumen al-Hadidi, the spokesman for the newly established National Commission to Promote Organ Donation, said 81 cases of trafficking have been uncovered in recent months, The Associated Press quoted. Al-Hadidi said that most of the donors were poor Jordanians between the age of 20-40 who sold their kidneys for money. He said no children were among those cases. He confirmed that the surgery to remove the donated organs were carried outside Jordan through brokers. Each kidney can sell for up to US$2,000 (¤1,489), al-Hadidi said. «A gang of brokers, who arranged the travel preparations and the contacts for the organs transplant outside the country, was arrested last month and will be put on trial,» he said.
