The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the organ trade with suspected international ramifications recorded the second arrest in the case on Friday (May 24).
The arrested is Sajith Shyam of Edathala, who now lives in Edappally. He was nabbed from near Kalamassery on Thursday (May 23). His arrest was recorded on Friday after an extensive interrogation.
The SIT has reportedly tracked money trail linking Sajith to the suspected members of the racket. Another key conspirator was under the scanner and would be nabbed soon, said sources.
The police had arrested Sabith Nasar, 30, of Thrissur after he landed at the Kochi airport on his arrival from Iran on Monday.
Preliminary investigation suggested that the donors and recipients might have got in touch with the racket via social media. That a random search on the internet returned many such social media posts about such deals, not to mention the clandestine deals over the Dark Web, has pointed towards such a possibility, said sources.
In most such cases, both the donors and recipients were found to be from India since being from the same geographical region probably increased the likelihood of finding a suitable match. The SIT suspects more members of the racket to be in Iran. Since most of the donors who were illegally flown to Iran were found to be from Bengaluru and Hyderabad, the potential links of the racket in those cities are also under the scanner.
According to the remand report of Sabith, the donors were flown to Iran and accommodated in flats there, before being taken to hospitals concerned for donating organs to matching recipients. The donors were given hospital treatment for three days, and were accommodated in flats for up to three weeks before being send back home. The illegal donors were paid up to ₹6 lakh, stated the remand report.
