CHITWAN: As many as five persons have been arrested for their alleged involvement in kidney smuggling to India, in recent times, police said.

Their target were gullible villagers, whom they took into confidence with fake promises before extracting their kidneys, in India.

Chitwan District Police Office identified the suspects as Hari Pariyar (41) aka Durga Bahadur Darji of Panchakanya Rural Municipality in Nuwakot district, Bikram Pahari (35) of Chandrapur Municipality in Rautahat district, Prakash Tamang (28) of Bakaiya Rural Municipality in Makawanpur district, Deepak Limbu (34) of Bayarban in Morang district, and Bishal Nepali (28) of Uttargaya Rural Municipality in Rasuwa district.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Prabhu Prasad Dhakal, the suspects Pahari, Tamang and Limbu were arrested from Chitwan whereas Darji and Nepali were held in Kathmandu and Rasuwa respectively. He further said that all the suspects were arrested on different dates.

"Except Pariyar, all the other suspects have smuggled at least one kidney to various hospitals in India," DSP Dhakal shared.

"They charged commission of Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000 for finding people willing to sell their kidney in exchange of monetary value and establishing their contact with smugglers."

Earlier, District Police Office, Chitwan had formed a seven-member team of Medical Response Team (MRT) to look after health crimes in the district. After the team mobilisation, the heinous crime of kidney smuggling to India from Nepal was revealed.

Meanwhile, police are preparing to file a charge sheet against them under the Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act, 2007.