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The Documentary Podcast

The Organ Harvesters

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.32.7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Assignment tells the story of a young street trader from Lagos who ended up at the heart of an organ harvesting plot involving a senior Nigerian politician and a hospital in the UK. The young man was tested, trafficked and tricked into a plot to remove his kidney, to donate to the daughter of one of Nigeria’s most powerful politicians. As Mark Lobel discovers, the criminal trial and conviction is the first of its kind in the UK – and has led to police investigating more potential cases.

Presenter Mark Lobel Producer Kate West Editor Carl Johnston Studio mix by Graham Puddifoot

Transcript

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0:00.0

The HappyPod is a special weekly episode from the Global News podcast bringing new positive stories and uplifting interviews from around the world.

0:09.0

I've got some good news for you. It's a beautiful place to be.

0:12.0

A really good vibe, you know.

0:14.0

It's the audio equivalent of rose tinted spectacles.

0:17.0

The world's happier stories for your stories. Absolutely inspirational.

0:20.0

A pudding. Remarkable.

0:22.0

Listen now by searching for the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service, wherever you get your podcasts.

0:30.0

I'm Mark Lobel. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

0:39.0

And for this week's assignment, I've come to Lagos, Nigeria to investigate a story of illegal organ harvesting.

0:46.0

Wow, it's a typical day in Lagos traffic.

0:49.0

Because there's only one word into this old community and the word is very bad.

0:56.0

Monday morning rush hour in Lagos, one of the biggest cities in Africa, home to 16 million people and some terrible traffic jams too.

1:05.0

I remember them well from my time here as the BBC's Nigeria correspondent.

1:10.0

We're weaving through the city's narrow side streets, navigating deep hot holes, battered yellow mini vans and crowds of people all headed the same way, the market.

1:22.0

I think we're getting close somewhere. What's this market like?

1:25.0

He's an open-air market, we'd read over 10,000 to 15,000 lock-up shops and then you have treaters greening through 20,000 or so.

1:34.0

So you just have people sell outside goods, vegetables, groceries.

1:40.0

Samwell is our fixer and guide while we're in his home city of Lagos.

1:44.0

We've set him a difficult challenge, finding the last known whereabouts of a young man who was last seen in the city two and a half years ago.

1:52.0

We're going to call the victim in tonight's story, Daniel, a name we're using to protect his identity.

1:58.0

Daniel worked as a market street trader, a hawker, selling mobile phone accessories of a stand built on top of a wheelbarrow.

2:08.0

Against the odds, he's found what we're looking for.

...

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