The suspected mastermind behind an organ trafficking network, sought for years by Kosovo authorities, has been arrested in Israel an EU prosecutor said on Thursday.
“We have received information that Moshe Harel has been arrested in Israel on organ trafficking and other related offences,” EU special prosecutor Jonathan Ratel told AFP.
“We are seeking confirmation with the Israeli authorities,” he added.
If confirmed, the arrest could lead to a breakthrough at the trial of seven people accused of organ trafficking and illegal transplants at the Medicus clinic in the Kosovo capital in 2008.
Harel was arrested in Pristina that year but fled Kosovo after he was released from detention.
Kosovo authorities subsequently issued an international arrest warrant.
According to the indictment, at least 30 illegal kidney removals and transplants were carried out in the Pristina clinic in 2008.
The donors were from poor Eastern European and Central Asian countries, who were promised about 15 000 euros ($19 000) to become organ donors.
The indictment describes Israeli national Harel as the mastermind of a network for recruiting donors and finding recipients.
The seven suspects on trial include former Kosovo health secretary Ilir Rrecaj and Lutfi Dervishi, a prominent Pristina
urologist.
Another suspect in the case is Turkish doctor Yusuf Sonmez, accused of having carried out illegal operations to remove organs.
He is also indicted in Turkey.
The Kosovo clinic was raided by police in 2008 after a Turkish man collapsed at Pristina airport waiting for a flight back to Istanbul after having a kidney removed.
The case is being tried by EULEX, the European rule of law mission in Kosovo, set up to help the local judiciary handle sensitive cases after the territory declared independence from Serbia in 2008. - Sapa-AFP