Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Illegal organ trade trial in China

Updated at 6:14 am on 11 August 2012

Five people, including a surgeon, are on trial in central China for convincing a teenager to sell his kidney so he could buy an iPad.

Prosecutors told the court in Hunan province that one of the defendants, He Wei approached a boy and offered him $US3000 for his kidney.

Prosecutors say He Wei paid a surgical team to remove the organ and sold it on the black market, and used the profits to pay his gambling debts.

The teenager, known only as Wang, 17, became ill and had renal failure.

The defendants are accused of intentional injury and illegal organ trading.

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