Makassar Teens Killed A Boy to Sell His Organs Online, But Nobody Bought Them

Liputan6.com, Makassar - An online search turned fatal in Indonesia after a teenager came across a website that sold human organs. One teenager was tempted to get rich quick, and ended up performing a horrific murder. 

Two school boys with the initials AD (17) and MF (14) from Makassar, South Sulawesi Province, were arrested by police after killing an 11-year-old boy. The boy was chosen because he fulfilled the conditions that the website required. 

According to the police, the boy found the website on Yandex. AD said he did the act because of economic problems, and he was often scolded by his parents. AD said he saw a price of US$ 80.000 for human organs, and he wanted that money to build a home.

"I was searching on Google how to sell a human's organ, because of the economy, and every day got scolded by parents, so I did that act for the first time," said AD at the police office in Makassar on Tuesday (10/1/2023).

Police Commissioner Abdul Azis described the murder as "sadistic". He said the two boys were obsessed with the online prices of the organs which could reach millions of dollars. 

AD lured the victim by offering Rp 50.000 (US$ 3.2) to clean his house on Sunday, 8 January 2023. The victim was then taken away.

"I knew this victim, but not close, and did not target the victim coincidentally. I saw the requirements on Google were high, and I killed the victim in my home by strangling and throwing him to the floor when the house was empty,"  he continued. 

The situation turned even more bizarre when AD could not find any buyers after the murder. He attempted to send emails to prospective buyers, but he received no response. He also tried to negotiate the price, but no one wanted to buy.

"I tried to chat via email from the web to sell organs such as kidneys, hearts, lungs, livers, but no reply. Actually I wanted to give the body in full, but my chat was not replied. I tried to make a price promo on the web and there was no buyer," he confessed.

After not finding any buyers, the panic AD decided to throw away the body of his victim to a water reservoir in Maros Regency. He took the body with his motorcycle.

Police found the victim's body wrapped in a black plastic bag. His parents came to the police on Monday, and the police quickly managed to arrest the two teenagers.

However, the police ruled out the possibility of the death penalty as the perpetrators were not adults. Furthermore, AD and MF were only seen as influenced by negative contents from the internet, and not actually selling organs. 

"Because of an economic motive, (AD) wanted to show to his parents that he could make money, therefore he did that act," said Budy Haryanto, Chief Commissioner of Makassar police.

Psychologist  Efnie Indriani from Maranatha Christian University in Bandung said the action of those teenagers might be motivated by the combination of what they saw which became inspiration and also the pressure of life's necessities. 

Efnie who is an expert in children, adolescent, and family psychology at Maranatha Christian University in Bandung hopes that the perpetrators are not only given punishment, but also character building programs or therapies, otherwise there would be a concern that the perpetrators would increase the aggression after being freed.

"That aggression can be expressed in the form of revenge for the punishment that he received," said Efnie. "So the punishment was not made into a lesson, but an excuse for revenge and aggression."

Fauzan and Diviya Agatha contributed to this report.