Smuggling of human placentas case: Court rejects post-arrest bail pleas of four suspects

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court on Friday rejected the post-arrest bail applications of four suspects, including three Chinese nationals, in a case regarding the smuggling of human placentas.

The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Muhammad Afzal Majoka, while announcing its reserved verdict, dismissed post arrest bails of suspects Muhammad Waqas, Li Gangcai, Wang Bao and Peng FeiGuoin the case registered under Sections 9 and 11 of the Human Organs and Tissues Transplantation Act (HOTA), 2010 read with sections 420/109/34 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) registered at Corporate Crime Circle (CCC) police station of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

According to the written order, the court, as per the first information report (FIR), on spy information, a raid was conducted on July 24 at house No. 4-A, Street No. 32, Sector F-71, where allegedly activities relating to the sale and commercial use of human organs/tissues were being carried out. During the raid, petitioners and others, including some Chinese, were arrested and it transpired that collection, processing, preservation, packaging and preparation of human organs was allegedly being carried out.

During the raid, multiple containers and refrigerators containing a substantial quantity of human organs were recovered, it says.

The order says that it is to be noted here that the presence of petitioners on the spot has not been denied because they were apprehended and 5,000 kg of placentas were recovered from the spot, whereas 5,000 kg of placentas were recovered from the airport.

Defence counsel for petitioners maintained that there is no report whether this placenta was of human or of animal. Suffice it to say that Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) report is available on police record which shows that human DNA was detected in placenta.

The judgment says that according to section 2(e) of HOTA, Human Organ’ means a part of a human organ or tissue.

The placenta is part of the body. Much emphasis has been laid by counsel for petitioners that when, after the birth of the fetus, the placenta is kept in the human body, it may be dangerous to life, and for this reason, the placenta is removed from the body. If it were to be considered as wastage, even then it was to be disposed of, it says.

The order says that, according to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) dated February 2, 2024, of the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department, Government of Punjab, Lahore, placenta is to be dumped into burial pits. For the sake of argument, even if only the placenta was recovered on the spot, even then, the same could not be kept by petitioners and others, and it was to be dumped, but the placenta was not disposed of; rather, it was being sold as placenta of sheep, it says.

The order says that the placenta is used in cream, injection for plastic surgery, anti aging, etc. Availability of a huge quantity of placenta on the site is indicative of the fact that public and private hospitals, and staff of the hospitals are involved in this illegal activity because after the birth of a child, the placenta is to be disposed of.

It is surprising to note as to how this placenta reached the spot. It follows that several hospitals and staff are involved in this illegal activity, it says.

The judgment says that the offences alleged to have been committed by petitioners fall within the prohibitory clause of section 497 Cr.P.C. In these circumstances, no case for the grant of post-arrest bail is made out, and the bail pleas are rejected.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026