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Woman sold placenta for R500
08/10/2007 08:50 - (SA)
Ingrid Oellermann
Durban - Members of Durban's Organised Crime Unit arrested a cleaner/general assistant employed at a top Durban private hospital who allegedly sold a fresh placenta or afterbirth to a police trap for R500 on Saturday afternoon.
Police are still investigating from which patient at the hospital the afterbirth was taken.
The 33-year-old woman is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate's Court today in connection with charges of illegally trafficking in human body parts.
A woman's afterbirth is allegedly widely sought after by witchdoctors for muti purposes.
Bottles containing human tissue
The Witness learnt that after the suspect was arrested, police searched her home in Hope Road, Morningside, Durban, where a further four bottles containing what appeared to be human tissue were discovered in the refrigerator.
The Witness was informed that the tissue in the bottles will be sent to a laboratory for testing to establish whether or not the tissue is from human beings or animals.
Superintendent Muzi Mngomezulu confirmed the arrest of the woman and requested The Witness not to publish the name of the private hospital where the suspect worked and where she was arrested, as the hospital authorities have not been fully briefed on the incident.
He said police are in the process of investigating if the woman was part of a syndicate dealing in human body parts, or was working alone.
A source told The Witness that police were required to act swiftly on Saturday after receiving information from an informer that a woman sold body parts to a witchdoctor in the market at Warwick Avenue, and allegedly indicated that she had access to a supply of human parts.
She was allegedly asked if she could supply the afterbirth from a white woman, and confirmed that she could do so.
An undercover operation was then put in motion with the help of the agent, who made arrangements to purchase a fresh afterbirth from the woman the same afternoon.
At lunch-time on Saturday, the woman met police operatives as planned outside the gates of the hospital where she worked and the deal was made.
She was arrested at the scene.
The woman had allegedly initially demanded to be paid R1 000, but settled for R500. The Witness was told that the afterbirth was contained in a labelled plastic bag.
The crime of trafficking in human parts is not new to Durban, where in February 2002 two men - one of whom was an employee at the Gale Street mortuary - were arrested for the ³corruption and violation of dead bodies².
Then Health MEC Dr Zweli Mkhize at the time denounced the sale of body parts and said their use for muti is illegal. People are misled if they believe body parts can cure them of ailments, he said.
In December 2003, three people were arrested in Durban in connection with international trade in human organs, mainly kidneys, whereby volunteer "donors" were located in Brazil and paid a fee to undergo surgery to remove one of their kidneys in Durban.
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