Najaf organ-trafficking ring linked to Erbil, Iran

Shafaq News- Najaf

Security forces in Iraq’s Najaf province arrested an alleged organ-trafficking ring linked to coordinators in Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region, and Iran, a security source told Shafaq News on Thursday.

A joint force detained members of the group in Najaf’s Old City along with people negotiating to sell their organs.

On April 15, Interior Ministry spokesperson Colonel Abbas Al-Bahadli announced that security forces had dismantled 36 domestic and international trafficking and smuggling networks in the first quarter of 2026, including one organ-trafficking network involving seven suspects whose activities extended inside and outside Iraq. On August 7, the Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency’s Anti-Human Trafficking Directorate announced the dismantling of three further trafficking networks, including an international ring accused of exploiting victims through illegal kidney sales.

Read more: 2.3K lives lost: Iraq's grim toll of human trafficking