Top prosecutor Nabil Sadeq ordered the detention of 25 suspects for 15 days pending investigation into human organs trafficking charges.
The suspects are accused of forming of an international network for human organs trafficking.
According to investigations, the suspects took advantage of the headquarters of government hospitals to carry out their criminal operations in return for little money going to the victims.
There are three other suspects currently in hospitals, a Saudi national and two Yemenis who underwent organ transplant operations, a judicial source said.
Beside trafficking in human organs, the suspects were accused of the acquisition of public money by the seizure of public medical supplies and medicines, said the judicial source.
The victims entered Egypt under the pretext of tourism to undergo the operations.
The prosecutors ordered the seizure of funds up to US$1 million and gold ornaments that belong to the suspects, as well as medical supplies that belong to the Health Ministry.
During interrogations, a number of suspects confessed to having committed the crime of organ transplants in violation of the law.
The Administrative Control Authority announced it had detected, at dawn on Tuesday, the largest international network for trafficking in human organs, including Egyptians and Arabs.
The network includes university professors, doctors, nurses and workers at medical centers and hospitals, as well as intermediaries and brokers, the authority added in a statement.
The network takes advantage of the poor economic conditions of some Egyptians to traffick in human organs in exchange for little money, while they make exorbitant amounts of money, said the statement.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
