A Thai man was arrested at the Nong Khai border checkpoint yesterday carrying six tubes of what he claimed was human semen bound for Vientiane, officers said.
Nithinon Srithaniyanan, 25, said he was bringing the semen, stored in a nitrogen storage tank from Bangkok to a clinic in the Laos capital. The semen came from two men, a Chinese and a Vietnamese, he told the officers.
Nimit Saeng-ampai, chief customs officer at the checkpoint, said the officers noticed Mr Nithinon had been travelling back and forth to Cambodia through the Aranyaprathet checkpoint, and to Laos via Nong Khai's Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge.
Each time he was seen carrying a large bag, they said. Analysis of the bag yesterday showed it contained a storage tank equipped to store frozen sperm, eggs or embryos, the officials added.
But Dr Chachawal Ritthiti, Nong Khai's deputy chief public health officer, who was also present when the bag was inspected, said lab tests were required to determine whether the tubes the man was ferrying across the border indeed contained sperm or embryos. Buying, selling, importing or exporting human sperm, eggs or embryos is prohibited according to a law on assisted reproductive technologies.
Mr Nithinon claimed he had been hired by a mixed Thai-Japanese man known only as Mr Yu since last year to take the nitrogen storage tanks from four clinics in Bangkok to neighbouring countries, officials said.
He took the tanks to a clinic in Vientiane on 12 occasions, and to a hospital and clinic in Phnom Penh 13 times, receiving 5,000 baht for each delivery, according to his statement.
An initial examination found some of the clinics he mentioned have faced complaints over surrogacy issues, according to Dr Akom Pradittasuwan, director of Thailand's Bureau of Sanatorium and Healing Arts. However, the cases have yet to be considered by the Medical Council of Thailand, Dr Akom said.
The penalties would be higher for illegally transporting embryos, according to Dr Thongchai Keeratihuttayakorn, deputy director-general of the Department of Health Service Support. The clinics involved would also be liable, he said.
Any violators of the law on assisted reproductive technologies would be subject to jail terms of up to three years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both, he added. Moreover, the penalty for taking prohibited items out of Thailand is a jail term of up to 10 years, a fine equivalent to four times the value of the item or product being smuggled, or both.
In 2014, a scandal involving a Japanese businessman identified as Mitsutoki Shigeta made headlines after he was found to have fathered at least 16 babies with surrogate mothers in Thailand. He was investigated by Interpol that same year on suspicion of human trafficking.