http://vancouver.globaltv.com/bc/news/stories/news-20001028-160422.html
Grandmother Tries To Sell Grandson For
Organs
Russian Boy Was To Be Sold For $70,000 US
MOSCOW, Posted 2:04 p.m. PDT October 28, 2000
-- The boy thought his grandmother was taking him to
Disneyland, but Russian police say she had other plans: to
sell her grandson so his organs could be used for
transplants.
Police in Ryazan, 200 kilometres southeast of Moscow, said
Saturday they arrested a woman after they were tipped that
she was trying to sell her grandson to a man who was going
to take the boy to the West.
There, his organs were to be
removed and sold, a Ryazan police
officer said.
After a surveillance operation,
police moved in to arrest the woman
Tuesday, capturing the event on a video tape that was
released in part on Saturday. Police did not reveal the
woman's name.
The woman was helped in the scheme by the boy's uncle,
who told police the child was being sold for about $70,000
US.
When asked how he could sell his nephew, the uncle
replied: "My mother said that it is none of my business, he is
her grandson."
The boy, whose age was not released, lived with his
grandmother.
Body parts have been smuggled out of Russia in the past for
sale in the West as organ replacements.
Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
-- Marta Russell author, Los Angeles, CA http://disweb.org/ Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract http://www.commoncouragepress.com/russell_ramps.html