- 22 hours ago
The global black market kidney trade is thriving. Legal supply can't meet the demand. This has created a shady underworld of mercenary brokers, middlemen and corrupt doctors. For big money, they exploit vulnerable donors and desperate recipients alike.
全球肾脏黑市交易正日益猖獗，由此滋生出一个由唯利是图的经纪人、中间商及腐败医生组成的阴暗地下网络... 全球非法地下市场，揭露从非法武器到地下性交易等多种黑市交易。节目通过访问工人、供应商、销售商、客户以及试图阻止黑市的执法人员，揭示了这一残酷、剥削和腐败的行业内部运作. 据称，每年有超过6,250亿美金通过非法贸易商品进入美国经济....
全球肾脏黑市交易正日益猖獗，由此滋生出一个由唯利是图的经纪人、中间商及腐败医生组成的阴暗地下网络... 全球非法地下市场，揭露从非法武器到地下性交易等多种黑市交易。节目通过访问工人、供应商、销售商、客户以及试图阻止黑市的执法人员，揭示了这一残酷、剥削和腐败的行业内部运作. 据称，每年有超过6,250亿美金通过非法贸易商品进入美国经济....
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TVTranscript
00:08in America 14 people die each day waiting for a kidney transplant you're dying okay
00:15meanwhile the black market organ trade is thriving you're taking the only
00:21alternative that's open to you and go-betweens with global reach or
00:26pocketing easy money desperation drives us illegal trade in human spare parts but
00:44the medical community the sound of the alarm an ethical transplantation is
00:49dangerous transportation and international law enforcement is in hot
00:54pursuit of the traffickers and be aware we don't want to you
01:08California an affluent state that's home to some of the best medical care in the
01:13world but a place that's hard to get a kidney okay let's go yeah grab me your
01:22water Ron is 70 years old and on his second donor kidney this kidney failed two
01:29months ago Ron depends on getting a new one in the meantime he must endure hours of
01:37exhausting dialysis and every session he wonders about giving up okay so we got
01:43this here I'm connecting lines to the patient so he can get his blood clean so now I'm gonna start
01:58this treatment
02:02it's my life for five hours every time you know it's uh it's hard but it's keeping me alive until
02:10I get the
02:10transplant Ron has very few options he can wait up to 10 years for a cadaver kidney if he lives
02:19that long he
02:20can register out of state or visit the black market there's a lot of rules and
02:25regulations that slows down the process so I think all of this promotes people to
02:34start thinking different avenues on how to get a kidney
02:39prosecutors say the man will buy a kidney for ten thousand dollars then sell it for as much as a
02:44hundred sixty thousand dollars
02:46some Americans see the black market as their only alternative but organized crime dominates the
02:54corrupt brokers and the poverty-stricken donors with huge risk to all
03:03dedicated doctors battle against the injustice of global organ trafficking clinics such as ours are at the
03:10front line of educating and caring for our potential donors we care a lot about them dr. Danovich runs UCLA's
03:22kidney and
03:23pancreas transplant program he knows firsthand the desperation felt by many patients in need of a transplant
03:30so to understand why Americans or anyone else might travel aboard for a transplant it's very important to get some
03:38sense of the overall international situation it's a constant challenge because there is a tremendous need for organ
03:47transplants particularly kidneys so there's a lot of attention naturally about the black market etc and the
03:57trafficking we need to put a stop to that commercialization wouldn't be a problem we're not for the fact that
04:04the donors are
04:05human beings and we don't try to benefit one patient on the back of another human being
04:15paid donation undermines unpaid donation paid donation undermines altruistic donation it doesn't solve the problem
04:24it's setting up another problem by virtue of the fact you are exploiting a desperate person and desperate people do
04:32desperate things
04:36like in India a place known as the great organ bazaar one of the country's wealthiest states
04:43Punjab is a hotspot for black market kidneys here a lack of medical regulation combined with loose medical ethics
04:51drives transplant tourism supply and demand creates an uneasy alliance between wealthy patients dependent on
04:59dialysis and potential donors trapped in poverty on the outskirts of the city of Jalander 30-year-old Jasa is
05:08struggling
05:09to pay his debts
05:10to pay his debts
05:51The illegal organ trade generates profits of around $1 billion a year globally.
05:58With the lure of easy money, street-level opportunists prey on the vulnerable, like
06:03Josset.
06:53Bitu stands on the bottom rung of the black market supply chain.
06:58He survives on the commission he gets for each donor he finds.
07:19Bitu struggled as a farmer and turned to kidney hunting to make ends meet.
07:24He gave 10% to 4% to his son.
07:34He gave 10% to his son.
07:36He gave 10% to his son.
07:59Bitu heads to Jasser's farm.
08:02He needs to be convinced that Jasser's as good as he sounds.
08:06If he turns out to be a smoker and drinker, Bitu will have wasted precious time.
08:17I don't know if he's a smoker.
08:19Don't you think?
08:26Don't you think?
08:26There's a lot of time to go and get the best people.
08:30There's a lot of people.
08:32You don't have to like me when you have to leave.
08:38You don't have to worry about what you are doing.
08:40I'm sorry.
08:41I'm sorry.
08:43I've heard this guy from the camera,
08:45I've heard about it in a month, because all of us have died, and we'll give them all the time.
08:54Bitu takes Josser to get a blood test.
08:57It's the first step to getting a kidney to the black market, and a paycheck in his pocket.
09:04He's betting on Josser to deliver the goods.
09:11That's the jackpot sign.
09:13The dialysis session is finished.
09:15I know.
09:19Now, if it don't fall on my face, we're okay.
09:22Back in the States, Ron is among the 20 million Americans suffering from chronic kidney disease.
09:30He's been going to dialysis three times a week for several months, and counting.
09:36So that's actually about 94 years.
09:40After dialysis, Ron is too weak to drive.
09:43His wife, Arden, will take him home.
09:47It's not fun, this kind of thing.
09:49He's here four hours, so it's really hard.
09:53You get used to it a little bit.
09:55Are we ready?
09:55Thank you very much.
09:59If you go into a dialysis center and sit in that chair for five years doing nothing, that's what you're
10:06going to get, nothing, okay?
10:10I just put, get a kidney transplant.
10:14So you have to be proactive.
10:18Here in the United States, we make a lot of money on transplantation.
10:23Why is going out of the country to buy a kidney less moral than going to a transplant center here?
10:32It's just how much you want to live.
10:36For Ron, like many Americans, going out of the country to get a kidney can mean breaking the law.
10:43The black market, it's like an underground of information.
10:49You know, if you're willing to take the risk, you can do it.
10:52If you have the money, you can do it.
10:55Let me get my stuff from the fridge.
10:59The poker's the one you work for, absolutely.
11:02You place one call, and they'll see if you're a viable candidate.
11:08As simple as that.
11:10Behave yourself.
11:11So that's my plan.
11:13So, okay, if I can't get it here, I will go out of the country.
11:16There's no question about it.
11:18And God help me.
11:21I hope I'm lucky.
11:28Israel.
11:29An important hub in the black market kidney trade.
11:34In recent years, Israel has been the go-to place for organ shopping.
11:40Thanks to brokers with global connections,
11:43the broker takes care of everything.
11:46This man's desperate customers would pay any price for a new kidney.
11:56Okay?
12:05As a broker, Uzi did big business.
12:12We can do it.
12:14Okay?
12:14All this grupers work for anything.
12:15It's all this happens.
12:16This is too, it's all this because now we live every one for nothing.
12:21I'm going to see.
12:22Tonight, I'm going out of the hospital,
12:23I see there.
12:24I've got another one.
12:26We're talking before.
12:27She'll say,
12:28I'mSTANGM.
12:28I'm going out of my body for 5 hours.
12:39A hundred thousand isn't cheap, but Uzi had people to pay.
12:44And claims his cut was small.
12:53But the whole story got a lot more complicated.
12:57Israeli ex-footballer Uzi Shmuley has been arrested at Lanarka Airport on suspicion of organ trafficking.
13:04Allegedly, Shmuley recruited young women with financial problems and promised them money
13:08in exchange for operations to remove their kidneys in Turkey.
13:12He was arrested on suspicion of sourcing and paying illegal donors.
13:17This is Kamara.
13:18He now lives under house arrest and is awaiting trial.
13:22I did some things that are not the best in the world.
13:25Now, it gives me a lot of confusion, a lot of confusion, when I know that I'm sick.
13:31It's not a human being, it's not a human being.
13:34I'm doing it for your heart.
13:41Uzi may think he was saving lives, but the cop who caught him doesn't agree.
13:46Uzi Shmuley is a very interesting person.
13:53In our investigation, he was the broker, he was the one who were connected to the Israeli mob.
13:59He is the one that is locating the people who are sick and the people that wants to donate.
14:11Uzi brokered over 50 kidney sales annually.
14:14At a supposed $5,000 a pop, he made at least a quarter of a million dollars a year, tax
14:20-free.
14:21We're actually talking about millions of shekels that are made from his organizations.
14:27Allegedly, a sweet deal for Uzi, but a bitter pill for the donors.
14:33A ring engaged in selling organs and black transplantology has been exposed and was headed by an Israeli citizen.
14:39According to the official data, most of those who sold their organs were poor women in the 1824 age bracket.
14:47The one common thing between all the donors is their vulnerability.
14:53Maybe they had a financial problem, a loss of steam problem.
14:58So they are making the donor the things that he's doing the right step for him.
15:04He will make a profit, he can live with only one kidney, and this is how they manipulate him.
15:13The bottom line is that you don't care about the people, you care about the money.
15:25Under Israeli law, only an altruistic kidney donation is legal.
15:32The transaction becomes illegal when the donor is paid.
15:37Commander Oren changes out of uniform and in a street clothes for the next state of Israel.
15:40We want to take all the decisions.
15:43We come to Bellinson.
15:44We have to see them.
15:45We come to a certain decision.
15:47We come to another decision.
15:49And there is the last decision, which is the state of Israel.
15:51But it's legal.
15:53We want to come and turn everything to us that we were in contact with the donors.
15:58And it's not true, it's very simple.
16:01Commander Oren changes out of uniform and in a street clothes for the next stage of the investigation.
16:07Now we've been exposed to the organ trade.
16:09We're doing a lot of surveillance, a lot of intelligence.
16:14We're managing to establish a hard case with a lot of evidence before we will make the arrest.
16:38Oregon traffickers are slippery.
16:40If they figure the cops are on to them, they'll flee the country, destroying valuable evidence as they go.
16:47Commander Oren puts his team through intense training to stay one step ahead.
16:53Now, as you can see, we're organizing to issue the operation.
16:57We use the traffic lights that won't let the suspects run away.
17:03So we have bikers.
17:05We have an arrest team.
17:07We have the watchman who's full cover-up.
17:10And we have the walkie-talkie so we can listen.
17:14And I hope we will catch the fish today.
17:23Experience tells Oren that it takes a certain personality to become an Oregon trafficker.
17:31You have to be smooth.
17:34You have to be connected with strong people.
17:39You have to be someone who loves money.
17:45A lot of money.
17:47And you have to be a person who has no feelings for the other one suffering.
17:56So, we need to fight this till the end.
18:09Today's training exercise will become tomorrow's arrest.
18:13And Commander Oren has a warning for all the kidney traffickers out there.
18:17And beware.
18:19We're on to you.
18:27With his trial approaching, Uzi is sticking to his story.
18:52While Uzi awaits judgment,
18:56other brokers are out there, preying on the desperate and making a killing.
19:13In India, the extreme poverty yields a high volume of kidney donors,
19:19making it rich pickings for the broker and his middleman.
19:22In Asia, I'm concerned that there was a week,
19:29no idea of its侵異.
19:32In India, there was a lot of money in India.
19:36In India, I was able to support the doctor to help us all.
20:11Middleman Mita hits the streets.
20:16Looking for his next desperate donor.
20:29April 2015, a 7.8 earthquake rocked Nepal, destroying hundreds of thousands of homes and displacing
20:38millions of Nepalese.
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21:09Vinod came to India from Nepal a few years ago to work, leaving his parents, wife and three
21:16daughters behind.
21:18He regularly checks in with them.
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22:20This level of desperation leads people like Vinod to the organ black market.
22:40Vinod has a phone number for a kidney hunter and reluctantly makes contact.
22:56He's not allowed to do it.
22:59He's the only one that has to be able to get the money from the store.
23:01He's about $300,000 to $300,000.
23:06He's already been able to get the money from the store.
23:09He's about to buy the money from the store.
23:26Vinod's just starting the dangerous journey, the Jasa is already on.
23:33Bitu, the kidney hunter, has taken many wannabe donors on a similar trip before, and he well
23:40knows that little faith can go a long way to keeping them on board.
23:44We are here with the Kronimind and the Kidney.
23:48We do have to test the kidney for each other.
23:55I believe that all my tests are fine.
23:58If I don't have any problems for kidney to give me,
24:01then my money is on the road.
24:27Okay, okay
24:34As the middlemen in the operation, Mita runs a tight ship when it comes to keeping subordinates like Bitu in
24:40line.
25:13Potential donors like Vinad have no idea what they're getting into.
25:53Black market brokers take a healthy cut from the organ trade, but overseas doctors can really clean up, too.
26:03Big paydays for backroom surgeries can lead to corrupt medical practice.
26:08For the recipient, it's impossible to know if this will lead to a life-saving treatment or a slow, painful
26:14death.
26:17In the Indian state of Punjab, in the city of Amritsar, several corrupt doctors were exposed in a huge kidney
26:24transplant scandal.
26:25In the Indian state, there was a long day of spending money. Some people were killed after kidney, without an
26:32allergy.
26:36In the year 2002-2003, we had this scam.
26:41The people who were in the kidney scam.
26:49The doctor, the operation team, the hospital hospital.
26:54The recipient and donor of kidney scam.
27:13This couple says their family was caught up in the kidney scam, which resulted in the death of their only
27:21son.
27:21It was very good. By nature, it was very good.
27:29It was very good.
27:30I was born in 19 years since I was born in 19 years.
27:35It was very fit and healthy.
27:40I was born in 19 years later.
27:45I was born native to 33 years.
27:48The doctor was born in 19 years after a time.
27:50It was very bad.
27:59I was born in 19 years since the 19 years of the day.
28:00I chose my family as a doctor.
28:01I chose my whole family as a family.
28:07The doctors offered to find a kidney donor, but Kamlish decided to give her son one of her own.
28:48In India, very few people have health insurance. Vijay and Kamlish are among the 70% who are forced to
28:55pay their medical bills out of pocket.
28:58Their son's body was rejecting his mother's kidney, but the couple couldn't afford anti-rejection drugs.
29:14Then they claimed the doctors started talking about a black market kidney.
29:19It meant Vijay and Kamlish had to take on a crippling level of debt.
29:23He was on the side of the hospital and he got $5,000 in his office.
29:33I said, I'm going to go to U.P. for two years.
29:40Then he went to the other side.
29:43I'm a car.
29:47I got a car and entered the car.
29:51The girl said, I don't have a CD.
29:55I said, no.
29:56I put it in the chair.
29:57I put it in the chair, and he put it in the chair.
29:59And I put it in the chair.
30:00And he put it in the chair.
30:00And he put it in the chair.
30:01And he got a chair with him.
30:05He said, Dr. Muda, go to the doctor.
30:09He said, I'm good.
30:35authorities arrested the doctor who operated on their son and Dr. P.K.
30:40Sarin spent time in jail, but was released while the case was pending.
30:44He set up shop in another city and went back to work.
31:28But a dying man can feel justified in buying a kidney, especially when he believes the American
31:34medical system is letting him down.
31:36It's a constant battle with the establishment that will stand up and say there should be
31:44no money involved in kidneys buying and selling.
31:48Why?
31:50If we could get financial incentives, there wouldn't be this need to go out of the country.
31:56The black market would go away, absolutely.
32:01But our government doesn't see it that way.
32:05This is a big business.
32:07You've got biolysis companies, transplant centers, and the immunosuppressant drugs.
32:19So they all make a lot of money.
32:23Ron feels backed in a corner with only one way out, the black market.
32:30It is risky.
32:32It is very risky.
32:34You know, the people you're dealing with, there are some ethical people in it.
32:39There's some real crooks.
32:41But I'll do whatever it takes to save my life.
32:43I've got a wife.
32:44I've got two daughters.
32:46I've got five grandkids.
32:47I don't want to give that up.
32:49So if I can't get a kidney, I'll go.
32:53Absolutely.
33:00For Ron, buying an illegal kidney may or may not save his life.
33:09But it will line the pockets of the broker.
33:38Coincidentally, Manu, my friend,
33:59Laka handles hundreds of kidney cells a year.
34:02I don't care.
34:03I don't care.
34:03You can see, India won't have business.
34:06It's always happening.
34:09I don't call it.
34:10I don't care.
34:13Not many people, but I don't want to get married.
34:29I don't care.
34:31I was working.
34:33I was thinking that I was going to be a little bit.
34:39Then the person gets a little bit.
34:41I'm angry with myself.
34:43I'm not going to stop.
34:47We're not going to be standing.
34:50We're going to be a donor.
34:52We're going to be a donor.
34:54We're going to be a donor.
35:16Through India's back alleys, kidney hunter Bittu takes his potential client for a blood test.
35:23The fate of both men rests on these results.
35:34If Joss' blood test doesn't come back as a viable match, he risks losing his farm.
35:40But for Bittu, the consequences could be even more severe.
35:48Bittu is not a bad person, but he is not a bad person.
35:52He is a bad person.
35:56He is a bad person.
36:15the black market brokers in India openly treat the donor as a commodity to be bought and sold
36:22in the West the paid donor has a very different experience Elon sold his kidney in 2008 this is
36:32the first time he's talked publicly about it originally from America Elon now lives in
36:38Israel with his wife and children I was living in New York at the time and I was at a
36:50point where
36:50I felt that I would do almost anything to make ends meet that's when I came upon this ad that
37:00was in a newspaper it was looking for people to do what is known in the Jewish term as a
37:09meat spa
37:12that's when I understood that it was about donating a kidney so I went on the internet most of the
37:22feedback that I got were pretty positive so that kind of helped my decision to donate my kidney
37:34after that I was introduced to mr. Isaac Rosenbaum he said him out that I would be compensated I was
37:44going to be $25,000 and for me at that time that was a very large sum he kept focusing
37:55on how much of a
37:56wonderful deed and compensation that I would get from it was really just a donation so I did not know
38:07at
38:08all that it was illegal organ donor Elon sold his kidney in America for $25,000 but he was just
38:22a
38:23small player in a much bigger game he is just one of the dozens arrested in the corruption suite but
38:30what Isaac Rosenbaum is accused of kind of stands out Rosenbaum was arrested for buying and selling
38:37kidneys at a huge profit authorities say he made millions of dollars over a 10-year period but he
38:46maintained that he was doing it for the good and that both the donor and the recipient were happy
38:52when I woke up I remember being greeted by the recipient and his family they were all standing there and
39:02some of them were in tears and some of them seemed very very thankful and appreciative so that made me
39:10feel very good after my recovery process mr. Rosenbaum's associates they gave me the remainder of the money
39:20in cash shook my hand and said thank you very much and that was that that's the last I've heard
39:28of them
39:33Rosenbaum the broker who recruited Elon was sentenced to just two and a half years in federal prison
39:38I learned later on that I was a part of a a large organ trade and for that I had
39:48to appear in court and
39:49testify and share my side of the story I honestly had no idea that it was that big Elon's scar
40:01still
40:01reminds him of the consequences of his good deed every now and then if I put too much strain on
40:08my body
40:08then I'll feel my my skin stretching where the incision was made
40:16you know I think the money was put to good use and it definitely helped me out a lot not
40:23as much as I
40:24expected it to but I'm in a good place now at the end of the day it's a decision that
40:31I made and it's one that I have to live with
40:34this is my new life here I'm at peace back in India Bitu is still working against the clock to
40:51deliver a kidney
41:17if Josh's blood type matches the recipient everyone gets paid thank you
41:22if not
42:07it's the news that Jasa wanted his test results are a match the illegal operation can proceed
42:34the uncertainty of the Oregon black market continues to affect the lives of everyone it touches it's been two months
42:42since the potential donor
42:43Vinod told his father he'd be back in Nepal he's wary of the brokers and hasn't finalized his deal with
42:51them
42:54organ brokers Laka and Mita are supplying two transplants a week and desperate recipients keep coming
43:02but Jasa's hopes of the payday are short-lived
43:06he hears his recipient is too sick for surgery
43:09leaving Jasa still in danger of losing his farm
43:14you're not you're seeing this live
43:20Ron is hanging in there for his family
43:24and still trying to find a legitimate kidney
43:27but time is running out
43:30I am gonna complete the process
43:33hopefully I will get accepted at one of these three centers
43:37wait won't be long
43:40but I think I'm gonna have to make a decision by the end of the year
43:44because my life expectancy on dialysis is maybe three years
43:50so I don't have the time to wait
43:54I want to live
43:55I've got so much to give
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