Costa Rica News – A woman, Maureen Cordero, worked as a police officer.
When her partner was killed, she fell on hard economic times. A network allegedly offered her ¢6 million for one of her kidneys and she accepted.
The organ was removed on October 13, 2009, in a private hospital, and transplanted to a man of Greek nationality.
Cordero later was offered an additional $1,000 for each person she recruited to “donate” a kidney. She recruited eight people. The network gave those people between ¢3,000 and ¢10 million per kidney.
The recipients are said to have paid $140,000 for the transplant procedure.
Cordero agreed to testify in the trial against the five accused, which is scheduled to go from September 11th to November 30th.
The crimes include human trafficking for illicit extraction of organs, embezzlement and serious injury.