China reportedly holds Japanese man over shady organ brokerage

Authorities in the Chinese city of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, have notified the local Japanese Consulate General that they have detained a Japanese man in connection with illegal organ transplants, officials said Friday.

The authorities have yet to reveal the man's name or charges, the consulate said. The city's Public Security Bureau is set to investigate the matter in which the man is believed to have been involved in organ brokerage.

China in May implemented an ordinance on organ transplants with provisions to respect donors' wishes and to ban organ brokerage in a bid to eliminate organ harvesting from executed prisoners and other murky practices.

According to the Shenyang chapter of the China International Organ Transplant Center, which supports organ transplants in the country, a total of 108 Japanese received transplant surgeries there between January 2004 and December 2005.