There are plans to carry out full investigation into alleged illegal cases of organs harvesting in the country.
The crime is committed in the guise of ritual killings in some parts of the nation.
By organ harvesting, human organs or tissues are removed without a person’s consent and sold on the black market for organ transplants.
Speaking on the plan to probe the issue, the Director General of NAPTIP, Ms Julie Okah-Donli, said cases of organ harvesting was complicated but that NAPTIP would carry out a full investigation and ensure perpetrators were brought to book.
Her words: “NAPTIP has decided to begin full investigation because most of the times, other law enforcement agencies go out, they will come to tell us that the suspected organ harvesting is a ritual murder.
READ ALSO: Crocodile Smile 2: Army arrest 399 suspects in Lagos, Ogun
“And we have resolved to carry out our independent investigation because the law gives us the power to do that and we have strong reasons to believe that these are cases of organ harvesting.
“When that is established after our investigation, we will go after everyone found involved with the full arm of the law.”
She stressed that organ trafficking was a form of human trafficking and NAPTIP would do everything possible to fight the crime.
Organ trafficking is divided into three categories.
One is the case of traffickers who trick the victim into giving up an organ for no cost; the second is con artists who convince victims to sell their organs, but who do not pay or who pay less than they agreed to pay; and the third is doctors who treat people for ailments which may or may not exist and remove the organs without the victim’s knowledge.
