On May 18 of this year, South African John Bothma went missing in Ho Chi Minh City.

As more details surrounding his disappearance emerged, there was some confusion on Facebook about whether or not he had been involved in a road accident, but that was eventually cleared up.

The latest possible angle of investigation into the whereabouts of Bothma (pictured above), as well as the whereabouts of Mushfiq Daniels (pictured below), a Capetonian teaching English in Ho Chi Minh City who went missing last month, is one that will have family and friends worried.

Whilst they did not know each other, the similarities surrounding their disappearances are striking.

Gift of the Givers is now investigating the possibility that they might have fallen victim to an organ harvesting syndicate, with TimesLIVE reporting below:

Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said they shared mysterious acquaintances — two American woman he described as having had contact with both men and who paid for their flights around South East Asia and treated them to lavish gifts.

“Both families approached me last week, which helped me, because I can compare the circumstances.”

…Sooliman said all evidence now pointed towards the men having become caught up in an organ harvesting ring, based on the prominence of the black market trade in Vietnam and the details surrounding their disappearance resembling those of past crimes.

“In February this year the authorities bust a major organ harvesting ring,” he said. “I strongly believe they are involved in this. It is a lucrative business in that part of the world.”

Sooliman said: “Two different American ladies look like the answer to what’s going on. They bought flights for the men and were apparently very close to these boys.”

Gift of the Givers has also recently been involved in trying to secure the release of South African photojournalist Shiraaz Mohamed.

Since Bothma’s disappearance, the behaviour of one of the women who was said to be close to him was particularly suspicious, with Sooliman saying her lack of emotion struck him as strange.

In addition, Sooliman says both women have lied about their whereabouts and relationship with the men:

“It’s a clear case that if there is no body found, then it is either a hostage situation or they have been taken for the harvesting of organs. It’s a highly sophisticated process, where they need to have doctors and a donor present.”

…“The night that he [Bothma] disappeared, he spoke to his auntie and she said that he sounded very down. She said that he told her that he was ‘going down’ and that his relationship with (one of the American women) was a mistake.”

According to Sooliman, the woman told the same aunt that Bothma was considering selling a kidney, which he said was indicative of her having “slipped up”.

The Facebook page ‘Find John Bothma’ has since been shut down, but the page ‘Find Mushfiq – HCMC‘ is still up and running.

According to the Facebook page, Daniels “suffered a breakdown causing distress and disorientation”, and his mother has now flown to Vietnam to assist with the search.

Both families have spoken about a lack of assistance from Vietnamese authorities, and Sooliman is now asking for the likes of Interpol to get involved.

[source:timeslive]