Boy sells kidney to buy iPhone

(AFP) – A teenage high-school student in China sold his kidney for an illicit transplant operation and used the proceeds to buy an Apple iPhone and iPad, state press said on Friday.

The 17-year-old boy, who was paid 22,000 yuan ($3,500), was recruited from an online chatroom and is now suffering from kidney failure and in deteriorating health, the Xinhua news agency said.

A surgeon and four others have been arrested and are facing charges of illegal organ trading and intentional injury.

The kidney donor, only identified by his surname Wang, agreed to the April 2011 operation in the central province of Hunan without his parents consent, the report said.

One of those detained was a hard-up gambler identified as He Wei, who acted as a middle-man between a hospital worker and the teenager. He was paid 220,000 yuan......................Full story