Customs mulls help to curb surrogacy

Illegal service likely to spread across region

Customs authorities are contemplating seeking cooperation from Lao and Cambodian authorities to more closely monitor suspected illegal surrogacy services that may have shifted their bases from Thailand to these two neighbouring countries.

Nimit Saeng-amphai, chief of the Nong Khai Customs Boundary Post, was speaking following the detention on Saturday evening of a Thai man and six Thai women who allegedly confessed to being part of an illegal surrogacy service.

Despite the confessions, the seven suspects were released as the authorities did not find any solid evidence to prove they had violated the 2015 Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act, Mr Nimit said.

Only the male suspect, identified as Nikhom Simarat, 47, from Bangkok, faced a fine of close to 90,000 baht for failing to comply with customs regulations regarding his transport of an empty nitrogen cylinder and 42 cone-shaped plastic tubes, Mr Nimit said.

A microscope and an uninterruptible power supply were also found and seized from an SUV Mr Nikhom was driving to transport the six women, aged between 25 and 34, back into Thailand from Laos, said Mr Nimit, adding the women arrived in Laos on Wednesday.

Mr Nimit said he believes the gang would now change up its tactics for conducting the illegal surrogacy service and possibly change their location.

So, the Thai authorities will have to seek cooperation with authorities in Laos and Cambodia to continue to look out for signs of the illegal activity, he said.

He said he had learnt from a high-level Lao official that Laos is now considering passing a law to regulate surrogacy services as well.

The seven suspects gave conflicting statements about the purposes of their trip to Laos when they were questioned separately by the authorities, Mr Nimit said.

The authorities, however, found a notebook containing names of seven women who underwent embryo transplants along with their results, he said, adding the record was kept by one of the six women who is from Amnat Charoen and allegedly works as a coordinator for this illegal surrogacy service.

When a man was detained by the Nong Khai customs authorities on April 20 with a nitrogen cylinder containing human semen while attempting to get through the Nong Khai checkpoint out to Laos, it was at first believed that surrogate mothers used in this illegal surrogacy service may be foreign women, he said.

These seven suspects clearly proved that Thai women were mainly used in the illegal service, Mr Nimit said.

According to the women’s accounts, they were taken to the same clinic in Vientiane the man arrested in April had implicated, Mr Nimit said.

According to an investigation, a Chinese man identified as Ran Zhao, 35, who lives in Bangkok, is the person who hired Mr Nikhom to transport the service coordinator and the other women from Udon Thani International Airport to Vientiane for the embryo transplant process at a health care facility, the Nong Khai customs chief said.

The costs of air travel between Bangkok and Udon Thani, the car transfer from the airport to a hotel in Vientiane and back, health check-ups at a health care facility and other related expenses were covered for the hired women, Mr Nimit said.

Prices to hire the women for the surrogacy services range between 100,000 baht and 400,000 baht.

However, two of the five surrogate mothers failed the health check-up required before the embryo transplant while the other three were found to have some unidentified problems.

That is why none of the women had undergone the embryo transplant as expected and they were brought back to Thailand, he said.