The Interpol-wanted man, who had been deported from Türkiye, was detained in Moscow on suspicion of dealing in organs in Kosovo
The Russian authorities and Interpol units have detained a man wanted in several countries over an alleged organ trafficking operation in Kosovo. He was arrested at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport after being deported from Türkiye, the Russian Interior Ministry said on Friday.
According to Russian prosecutors, from 2006 to 2008 Boris Wolfman was implicated in an operation that lured Russian citizens to Kosovo for kidney removal. The group allegedly misled victims, arranged their travel and surgeries, then abandoned them with serious health damage.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said that the man was wanted on charges of human trafficking as part of an organized crime group. The Russian Investigative Committee opened a case for intentional grievous harm and trafficking in human organs.
The case is linked to the private Medicus clinic in Pristina, where donors were reportedly promised payment for kidneys that were later sold to wealthy patients. The ministry said the suspect and his accomplices persuaded several Russian citizens to undergo kidney removal for cash, leaving them with severe injuries.
Wolfman, who holds Israeli and Ukrainian citizenship, was being sought after by the authorities in Russia, Kosovo, Israel, and Ukraine over his alleged role in the transplant network. Investigators in Russia said he and his associates from Ukraine, Israel and Türkiye promised donors €15,000 to €17,000 for each kidney but failed to pay them after the surgeries, some of which took place at Medicus.
Wolfman’s Russian lawyer told Kommersant that his client denied the accusations, saying that he only prepared insurance documents for patients of Medicus and other clinics. According to him, the kidneys were transplanted to Israeli and German citizens who paid for the operations and were later reimbursed by their insurers.
The suspect, who faces up to 15 years in a Russian prison, was named in a report by the EU Rule of Law Mission as the leader of an organ-trafficking network that operated in Kosovo and several other countries, including Costa Rica. Western media, citing intelligence sources, reported that dozens of Syrian refugees may also have been victims of the group.
