Turkey arrests Israeli organ trafficking suspect

A Turkish court early Saturday ordered the extradition of a suspected Israeli organ trafficker who is wanted by Interpol, Turkish media reported.
1 min read
05 December, 2015
The suspect was stopped at Istanbul's Ataturk airport [Getty]

A Turkish court early Saturday ordered the extradition of a suspected Israeli organ trafficker who is wanted by Interpol, Turkish media reported.

Boris Volfman was stopped at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Friday after flying in from Bangkok on suspicions of organ trafficking and fraud, the Dogan news agency reported.

Early on Saturday, the court formalised Volfman's arrest and ordered his extradition to Israel after a 40-day arrest period, media reports said, describing him as the head of the trafficking ring.

The reports said Volfman was born in the Ukraine but holds Israeli citizenship, with police launching a large-scale hunt to uncover his contacts in Istanbul.

His alleged targets were reportedly Syrian refugees in Turkey.

"The ring led by Volfman established contacts with some Syrians in order to buy the organs of Syrian refugees facing hardship," the Vatan newspaper reported.

There was no immediate comment on the case from Turkish officials.