Dozens referred to trial for human trafficking in Egypt

Egypt's chief prosecutor has referred 40 people to trial on charges of forming a criminal network for human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Prosecutor Nabil Sadek said Wednesday in a statement the suspects face an array of additional charges including bribery, forging official documents, facilitating illegal immigration and sex trafficking.

No date has been set for trial. The suspects could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Last year, it was revealed that medics in Egypt were taking part in human trafficking through an illicit organ trade market which capitalised on migrants and Egyptians living in extreme poverty.

Doctors and nurses suspected of belonging to a "large criminal network specialised in trading human organs" were among 12 people detained by Egyptian authorities in August.

The network "agreed with Egyptians to transfer some of their organs to foreign patients in exchange for large sums of money, exploiting people's financial need", the interior ministry said, noting three doctors, four nurses, three hospital workers and two agents were detained.

Some were arrested "while they were carrying out an operation to remove the kidneys and part of the liver of a citizen in a private hospital" in the Giza province, part of Greater Cairo.

The man had sold the organs for $10,000 (8,500 euros). Those operating on him were planning to implant the organs in a patient, the interior ministry said at the time.

The traffickers use organs obtained from migrants who are trafficked into the country and are desperate to pay their way onto their next destination.

Egypt passed legislation in 2016 to crack down on human trafficking in an effort to combat the growing illegal industry in the most populous Arab country.

Thousands of migrants and refugees have attempted in recent years to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, with an increasing number departing via smugglers' boats from Egypt's northern coast.