Greeks caught up in kidney trade scandal
Greece took action to help four Greek citizens whose passports were held by police in India in a probe reportedly linked to a major organ trading scandal, the Greek Foreign Ministry said.
By Agencies |
ATHENS: Greece took action on Wednesday to help four Greek citizens whose passports were held by police in India in a probe reportedly linked to a major organ trading scandal, the Greek Foreign Ministry said.
A Greek couple were assisted to return home and two more Greeks were helped to find a lawyer in New Delhi, the ministry said.
"As soon as the Greek embassy was informed that Greek citizens are facing a problem it provided assistance within the legal framework," foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos told reporters.
Koumoutsakos was commenting on a report in the Greek newspaper Ethnos, which claimed that two of the Greeks were patients at an illegal clinic in Gurgaon where ailing Westerners receive kidney transplants.
The ministry declined to give further details on the matter.
In what is said to be India's biggest organ trading scandal, a doctor and several middlemen were arrested and police are still looking for the suspected mastermind of the network of medical workers and touts.
A Greek woman is believed to have acted as an intermediary between the Gurgaon clinic and patients, Ethnos reported.
Organ trading is illegal in Greece, and other countries where the practice was common are taking steps to tighten their relevant legislation, the Greek state organisation for transplants said on Wednesday.
A Greek couple were assisted to return home and two more Greeks were helped to find a lawyer in New Delhi, the ministry said.
"As soon as the Greek embassy was informed that Greek citizens are facing a problem it provided assistance within the legal framework," foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos told reporters.
Koumoutsakos was commenting on a report in the Greek newspaper Ethnos, which claimed that two of the Greeks were patients at an illegal clinic in Gurgaon where ailing Westerners receive kidney transplants.
The ministry declined to give further details on the matter.
In what is said to be India's biggest organ trading scandal, a doctor and several middlemen were arrested and police are still looking for the suspected mastermind of the network of medical workers and touts.
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A Greek woman is believed to have acted as an intermediary between the Gurgaon clinic and patients, Ethnos reported.
Organ trading is illegal in Greece, and other countries where the practice was common are taking steps to tighten their relevant legislation, the Greek state organisation for transplants said on Wednesday.
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