A human organ smuggling ring led by a doctor and a car mechanic has been busted by Pakistani police, releasing details of his gruesome operation.

The ring had carried out more than 328 illegal kidney transplants, causing the deaths of at least three people.

Automotive mechanic in the role of anesthetist – Out-of-hospital organ removals

The network, which consisted of eight people, operated in Punjab and part of Pakistani Kashmir.

Fawad Mukhtar, a doctor who had already been arrested five times in the past for medical malpractice, used the car mechanic, whose identity has not been released, as an assistant and anesthesiologist in the operations, police said.

The surgeries were performed on persons whom the network members met in hospitals, after they managed to attract them with false promises.

Kidneys were removed or transplanted in private homes, often without the patient even knowingexplained Mohsin Naqvi, head of the Punjab provincial government.

The organs were being sold for 3 million rupees (9,800 euros) to Pakistani patients and up to 10 million rupees (33,000 euros) to patients abroad, he said.

“The facts and figures are shocking,” Naqvi said during a press conference yesterday, Sunday, while adding that the network is likely to be responsible “for many more operations and illegal transplants. We have managed to confirm these”.

Pakistan in 2010 banned the smuggling of human organs, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

But this has not stopped illegal transplant networks from flourishing. Usually these do not have a medical team or the necessary knowledge for the operations and often the patients die due to the complications.