Eyes gouged out in Chinese black market organ harvesting atrocity: In a shocking case of human cruelty, a young boy from China's northern Shanxi province was kidnapped near his home only to be found hours later wailing in pain with his eyes gouged out, in what appears to be an attack carried out by illegal organ traffickers.

The 6-year-old boy named Bin Bin is a resident of Linfen. According to his mother, the child went into the street near his house to play sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m on August 24. An hour or two later she called him inside, but he was nowhere to be found.

A farmer found the young boy in a field hours later, his eye sockets empty. Police found the child's eyes nearby, the corneas had been removed. "He had blood all over his face. His eyelids were turned inside out. And inside, his eyeballs were not there," the boy's distraught father told a local TV crew.

En route to hospital, Bin Bin told his father what he remembered. His fragmented story tells of a woman who drugged him before cutting his eyes out. Bin Bin's father told reporters the woman said to Bin Bin, "Don't cry. Don't cry, and I won't gouge out your eyes."

Corneas for corrective eyesight surgery are in high demand as they can be taken from people of any age and blood type. "Anyone who knows where the corneas are located in the eye can extract them," said Professor Arthur Caplan, a spokesman for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting in an interview with the UK's Daily Mail.

With massive demand for organs in China - around 300,00 each year - and only limited supply, a thriving illegal organ trade has developed. Childrens' organs fetch a higher price, one organ trader told Chinese media in 2010. "Most people think the younger the donor is, the better the quality of organs," the unnamed trafficker said.

Police have offered a 100,000 RMB (US$16,000) reward for information leading to the capture of the suspect.

--------------------------------------------------------

TomoNews i