Thai man arrested for cross-border sperm cell smuggling

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers arrested a Thai man at his home in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok for illegally smuggling sperm cells across the border into Laos and Cambodia for surrogacy.

CIB police arrested the suspect, 33 year old Teerapong at his home in Nonthaburi province on February 24. Teerapong was found smuggling to Thailand’s neighbouring countries. Teerapon faced two charges including:

• Section 242 of the Customs Act: importing or exporting goods which have not been passed through customs processes or without permission. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to 10 years, a fine of four times the goods’ price and customs fee, or both.
• Section 41 of the Surrogacy Act: selling, exporting, or importing sperm, ovum, or embryo. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both.

Teerapong’s arrest was made following the capture of another suspect, Nithinon, in 2017. The Provincial Customs Office in the Isaan province of Nong Khai arrested Nithinon for smuggling sperm cells into Laos. Officers confiscated a nitrogen tank and six tubes of frozen sperm.

Nithinon confessed that Teerapong hired him to pick up the sperm in Bangkok and deliver them to a clinic in Laos for surrogacy.

Further investigation into the smuggling revealed that a Chinese national was behind the operation. The surrogacy was for Chinese nationals who wanted Lao or Cambodian citizenship to carry out their illegal business and money laundering in the countries.

Teerapong managed to evade capture and hid in Nonthaburi province for seven years until his arrest on Saturday. Teerapong admitted to the crime and claimed that he stopped the operation in 2017.

Teerapong confessed that he took part in illegal sperm smuggling for three years from 2014 to 2017. He earned 10,000 to 15,000 baht per sperm cell and smuggled about 100 cells at a time.

Teerapong did not mention any money laundering or Chinese nationals behind the operation. He claimed that surrogacy in Laos and Cambodia was less complicated and much cheaper than in Thailand.

Officials did not report whether there were other Thai suspects involved in the smuggling or not.

Smuggling sperm cells across the border into Laos and Cambodia for surrogacy is illegal due to various legal, ethical, and health concerns. These countries have laws prohibiting commercial surrogacy or regulating it strictly, and smuggling sperm cells for such purposes would contravene these regulations.

Additionally, it may raise issues related to human trafficking, exploitation of women as surrogate mothers, and potential risks to the health and welfare of both the surrogate mothers and the children born through such arrangements.