A man was arrested by police in Nonthaburi province on Saturday for allegedly being a key member of a transnational surrogacy racket, supplying frozen semen, ova and foetuses to networks operating in Laos and Cambodia.
The suspect, only identified as 33-year-old “Thirapong”, was arrested at his house in Tha Sai sub-district. He allegedly told the police that he had been involved in the surrogacy racket for about a decade, supervising his teammates, sending each shipment of about 100 tubes of frozen semen, ova and foetuses, contained in liquid nitrogen tanks, to reproductive clinics in Laos and Cambodia. He claimed that he received 10,000-15,000 baht per shipment.
In 2017, Thai customs officials arrested “Nithinan”, thought to be a courier delivering the shipments to clinics in Laos. It is reported that customs officials did not immediately make the arrest but, after an investigation that confirmed the existence of the surrogacy racket, they took him into custody in possession of a nitrogen tank containing six tubes of frozen semen.
According to the Customs investigation, the surrogacy racket is financed and operated by Chinese businessmen using ova for Cambodian or Laotian surrogate mothers to bear children from foreign nationals who experience reproductive problems.
Cambodia and Laos are popular locations for surrogacy services because of their looser controls compared to Thailand, where similar services are restricted and more expensive.
