BEIJING — A Chinese court sentenced the leader of a gang that paid a 17-year-old boy 22,000 yuan ($3,533) for his kidney to five years in prison.
Nine people involved in recruiting the boy and performing the operation in April 2011 have “voluntarily” paid the teenager’s family 1.48 million yuan ($237,624) in compensation, according to the ruling posted yesterday to the website of the Chenzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Hunan province.
The gang found the boy, a high-school student in Anhui province, through an Internet chatroom, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.
The teenager bought an Apple Inc. iPhone and iPad with the money given to him for his kidney, according to the report.
China has about 1.5 million people who need organ transplants, Xinhua reported, citing the Ministry of Health. Only about 10,000 transplants are performed each year, according to the report.
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