Tuesday’s Dateline: The Body Snatchers

Dateline uncovers the violent world of people smugglers in the Egyptian desert, who are kidnapping and killing for a disturbing trade in body organs.

Thousands of refugees stream from Africa through Egypt to try and find a better life in Israel, but a investigation by SBS's Dateline has found that some don't make it because of horrific exploitation by people smugglers.

In the harsh desert of northern Egypt, Fouad Hady finds refugees are being kidnapped and brutally tortured for ransom.

Many meet a horrible end… thrown down a well or buried in unmarked shallow graves, where dogs scavenge over their bodies.

And most disturbingly, there's evidence that some have organs professionally removed as part of a flourishing trade in body parts, before being dumped in the desert.

Watch Fouad's report on Dateline on Tuesday at 9.30pm on SBS ONE, and read more now on the Dateline website.