Iraq breaks up organ-trafficking ring spanning Iran and Kurdistan

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Baghdad police arrested the mastermind of a cross-border organ-trafficking network after he attempted to recruit young people to sell their kidneys for money, a security source told Shafaq News on Sunday.

According to the source, the suspect admitted working with two accomplices — one in Ahvaz, southern Iran, and another in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region — after a planned ambush in Al-Kadhimiya led to his capture.

Iraq continues to face broader human-trafficking challenges, with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimating that 221,000 people in the country are affected by what it called “modern slavery,” a situation that reportedly exposes vulnerable groups such as women, children, minorities, and displaced families to exploitation. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that adult women make up more than half of trafficking victims, while girls account for nearly one-fifth.

Official data released in April recorded 2,300 trafficking victims in the past three years, with Iraqi authorities dismantling over 1,800 criminal networks and individuals involved in trafficking and forced begging.