An organ trafficking network that is believed to have transplanted between 400 to 500 kidneys over 9 years was recently broken up by authorities in India. 

From the International Herald Tribune:

As the anesthetic wore off, Naseem Mohammed felt an acute pain somewhere in the lower left part of his abdomen. Fighting off drowsiness, he fumbled beneath the unfamiliar folds of a green medical gown and traced his fingers over a bandage stuck on with surgical tape. An armed guard standing by the door told him that his kidney had been removed.

Mohammed was the last of about 500 Indians whose kidneys were removed by a team of doctors running an illegal transplant scheme, supplying kidneys to rich Indians and foreigners, police officials say. A few hours after his surgery on Thursday, the police raided the clinic and moved him to a government hospital.

Many of the donors were day laborers, like Mohammed, picked up from the streets with the offer of work, driven to a well-equipped private clinic, and duped or forced at gunpoint to undergo surgery. Others were bicycle rickshaw drivers and impoverished farmers who were persuaded to sell their organs, which is illegal in India.

Although several kidney rings have been exposed in India in recent years, the police believe the scale of this one was unprecedented. Four doctors, 5 nurses, 20 paramedics, 3 private hospitals, 10 pathology clinics and 5 diagnostic centers were involved, said the police officer in charge of the investigation, Mohinder Lal.

“We suspect around 400 or 500 kidney transplants were done by these doctors over the last nine years,” said Lal, the Gurgaon police commissioner.

The organ trafficking market is estimated to be valued at $50 million.