Chinese Company Steals Thousands of Corpses for Organ Transplants and Rakes in $53 Million

On the 8th, local media reported that Chinese authorities uncovered a company involved in the illegal procurement of thousands of corpses to produce human transplant products. According to the Chinese outlet Pengpai, lawyer Yi Shenghua (易勝華) revealed that the Public Security Bureau of Taiyuan City in Shanxi Province published materials online related to cases of corpse theft, desecration, and mutilation that occurred in May.

The documents indicate that Shanxi Osteorad Biomaterial Co., based in Shanxi Province, illegally acquired corpses and body parts from various regions, including southern Sichuan Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and eastern Shandong Province, between January 2015 and July of last year. The company is accused of manufacturing human transplant materials from these illegally obtained corpses. Investigators estimate that the company generated a total operating revenue of $53 million from 2015 to 2023. Authorities also seized over 18 tons of raw skeletal materials, semi-finished products, and 30,577 finished products from the company.

The company’s CEO allegedly gained control of four crematoriums between 2017 and 2019 through contracts, equity purchases, and personnel placements. He then instructed crematorium staff to steal corpses. According to Yi, the bodies were disassembled at the crematoriums and transported to the company, with some being dismantled on-site. Su admitted that his company received over 4,000 cadavers from these crematoriums, with prices for the bodies ranging from $125 to $3,100.

Pengpai quoted a Taiyuan City prosecutor who stated, “The scope of this case is broad and remains unresolved.” The prosecutor added, “Public security is investigating the suspects in order, and it is difficult to disclose specific details at this time.”

A total of 75 suspects, including officials from medical institutions such as the Liver Disease Center at Qingdao University Affiliated Hospital in Shandong Province and the Anatomy Department at Guilin Medical University in Guangxi, have confessed to their involvement.