Turkish police detain 20 over organ trafficking

Turkish police Friday detained 20 people on suspicion of organ trafficking, Anatolia news agency reported. Among the detainees were several doctors, said Anatolia, adding that the operation was continuing and the number of arrests may increase. The suspects were taken to Istanbul police headquarters for questioning, it said. In 2005, Turkey amended its penal code to explicitly define organ trafficking as a crime, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Organ trafficking in the country first gained public attention a decade ago as part of the case of an infamous surgeon -- Yusuf Sonmez, dubbed the "Turkish Frankenstein" -- who was implicated in numerous cases of illegal kidney transplants. In June, Sonmez was charged by the European Union justice mission (EULEX) in Kosovo as part of an investigation into an organ-trafficking network.