A high school freshman in China apparently sold his kidney on the black market so he could buy an iPad 2. Read that again, if you must.

The story, reported in The Global Times, Shanghai Daily, and elsewhere, says that 17-year-old “Zheng” got himself hooked up with a kidney broker on the internet, who offered him a little over $3,000 for the organ.

The Global Times reports that the kid was initially offered the equivalent of $3,084.45 for the kidney but wound up collecting $3,392.97 before “he returned home with a laptop and an iPad.” I’m almost curious about where that extra $308.52 came from but this story’s already crazy enough as it is.

The boy’s mother, curious about how he all of a sudden had both an iPad and an iPhone, got him to confess and promptly took the issue to the local authorities. Police were unable to locate the kidney broker but they paid a visit to the hospital that performed the surgery. The hospital!

There’s more. When confronted with allegations of performing the kidney removal, Shanghai Daily says, “The hospital claimed they had no idea about Zheng’s surgery because the department that did the surgery had been contracted to a Fujian businessman.” Unreal.

(via TNW)