Madrid ( CNN ) -- A wealthy mayor from Lebanon has been arrested in Spain for allegedly offering to pay $ 55,000 to poor people to obtain liver tissue for his liver transplant , police and a government official announced Wednesday . It 's the first time that potential human organ trafficking , a worrisome international crime , has been detected in Spain , authorities said . The mayor , a 61-year-old man , was arrested on January 30 at Manises Airport in Valencia . He has since appeared before a judge , who filed preliminary charges for alleged organ trafficking and released him on condition that he surrender his passport and remain in Spain , police and the official said at a Madrid news conference . Authorities , including Spain 's director general of national police , would not name the mayor because of an ongoing court investigation . Nor would they release the names of his alleged accomplices -- three Lebanese and a Palestinian who also were arrested in Spain . `` The police have helped to fight one of the scars of the 21st century , which is organ trafficking , '' Rafael Matesanz , director of the government 's National Transplants Organization , said at the news conference . `` It 's the first case that we have detected in Spain , of some people who come from foreign countries and who try to get some poor people , some immigrants , '' to sell a piece of their liver for a transplant , Matesanz said . The mayor 's alleged accomplices recruited and later paid for nine poor people -- eight immigrants and a Spaniard -- to have specialized liver compatibility tests at a clinic in Valencia last summer , police say . The combined tests cost $ 16,000 , which the mayor 's aides allegedly paid . Some of the nine people also received small sums of money for taking part , police said . Just one man , a Romanian immigrant , met the medical criteria for the liver tissue removal and , posing as a legitimate donor , he accompanied the Lebanese mayor last summer to a Barcelona clinic that specializes in liver transplants . But medical workers there , following strict protocols against human organ trafficking , prevented it . Spain is considered a world leader in legal organ transplants , and under its rules , human donors must do so only for altruistic reasons and must be family members or close friends of the recipient . The hospital quickly discovered that the Romanian immigrant and the Lebanese mayor had no such relationship , authorities said . The mayor eventually got his liver transplant in Barcelona , using tissue donated by his son , who had earlier been turned down as a donor in Lebanon , Spanish authorities said . But in Valencia , police were already investigating a tip from a nongovernmental organization that works with immigrants , which reported that an Algerian woman had complained that people were offering her money for part of her liver . The Algerian woman was among the nine people who eventually took the liver compatibility tests . Further investigation into the people who were recruiting and paying for those tests led police to the Lebanese mayor , and to the Lebanese suspects and the Palestinian , who live in Spain , authorities said . The mayor 's arrest occurred when he flew back to Spain for a medical checkup . The suspects could face 12 years in prison if convicted , but the court 's investigation is still preliminary , with no indictments , which are a necessary step before any trial can be held . `` The main message is that no country is totally free of this problem , so that everybody should be alert , '' Matesanz said . `` Organ trafficking is more or less like slaves of some centuries ago . It 's the way some people really control other people . It 's exploitation of human beings . ''
He offered $ 55,000 to poor people for liver tissue , police and a government official say . The mayor , 61 , was arrested on January 30 at an airport in Valencia , Spain . Authorities would not name the mayor because of an ongoing court investigation . Accomplices allegedly recruited nine people to have liver compatibility tests at a clinic .