The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is investigating a syndicate suspected of smuggling alleged human placenta from hospitals to produce anti-ageing injections, the BBC reported on Friday.
According to the BBC, officials uncovered 500 kilogrammes of what is believed to be human placenta during a raid on an illegal processing facility in Islamabad last week, leading to the arrest of five people.
Photographs shared by the agency showed trays of dried placenta arranged in trolley carts inside a house that had been “converted into a facility for storing and processing placenta,” the report added.
FIA officials were also reported to have intercepted a 100kg shipment of placenta at Islamabad airport on Wednesday, which was bound for Vietnam.
The five suspects bought the placenta from hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi at about Rs800 per piece, Hina Kanwal, an officer at the Human Organ Transplant Authority (HOTA), said, according to the BBC.
