Spain’s first organ traffickers jailed

THE leader of the gang arrested for organ trafficking has been jailed. Four others of the Radosavljevic clan have also been jailed by the Barcelona Provincial Court, including Radosavljevic’s 35-year-old son. 

The gang were hunting down a kidney for a 32-year-old man and had offered €6,000 to a Moroccan man who barely spoke Spanish. He was a witness in the case as he backed out at the last minute fearing for his own health, resulting in him being beaten by the gang.

Police said this is only the second such case detected in Spain of organ trafficking with the first occurring in 2014 when police arrested five people accused of offering €40,000 to immigrants in exchange for a portion of their liver. This trial is yet to be held in Valencia. 

Such cases are believed to be rare as Spain has a strong control system in place for organ donation with strict legislation being followed. First, donors must meet the medical criteria and the case must be approved by the hospital ethics committee which assess and confirms that the donor is doing so of their own free will, with a judge also approving the transplant.

The Radosavljevic gang, with its Serbian leader, are also accused of carrying out numerous high-end burglaries after settling in Tarragona. They would use children which they ‘purchased’ to carry out the burglaries.

As investigators broke up the organisation and arrested 48 of its members, they estimated that the loot found was worth an estimated €2 million.