Three indicted over ‘cross-border surrogacy ring’
By Chen Chien-chih and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted a Chinese national surnamed Cheng (程), 34, and two Taiwanese accomplices on suspicion of operating a cross-border surrogacy ring spanning Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand.
The group, which operated under names including UT Li She (UT麗舍) and Tonghe Xinsheng (同合新生), allegedly solicited customers online and charged between NT$2 million and NT$4.5 million (US$62,976 and US$141,697) per newborn, prosecutors said.
Prospective Taiwanese fathers traveled to Malaysia to provide sperm, then selected Thai egg donors based on their educational and professional backgrounds, as well as Thai surrogate mothers, they said.
A compilation of alleged surrogate mothers advertised by a cross-border surrogacy ring is pictured in an undated photograph.
Photo copied by Chen Chien-chih, Taipei Times
After becoming pregnant, the surrogate mothers traveled to Taiwan after more than eight months of pregnancy to give birth, with the group arranging for the intended fathers to legally acknowledge the newborns, they said.
The group allegedly accepted commissions from 22 Taiwanese men, resulting in the births of 25 babies, prosecutors said.
The Taichung Special Operations Brigade of the National Immigration Agency said it noticed that several Thai women had overstayed their permitted stays in Taiwan after giving birth. The women shared several characteristics, including entering Taiwan under the visa-free tourist program, leaving shortly after giving birth, delivering at the same obstetrics and gynecology clinic, and returning to Thailand after a Taiwanese man acknowledged the newborn as his child, it said.
The brigade reported its findings to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office, which launched an investigation.
On June 4, investigators obtained a warrant and searched an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Taichung. They seized delivery records involving surrogate mothers and found several surrogate mothers waiting to give birth.
Investigators arrested Cheng, the alleged ringleader, as well as Taiwanese nationals surnamed Hsu (徐), 40, who was allegedly responsible for transportation, arranging deliveries and household registration, and Wu (吳), 54. Two Chinese nationals surnamed Liu (劉), who allegedly played key roles in the operation, were also wanted by authorities.
The brigade’s investigation found that Cheng and his alleged accomplices had established an assisted-reproduction and surrogacy company in Thailand. They advertised cross-border surrogacy services online and on social media, where they shared accounts of successful cases.
After the babies were born, the group arranged DNA testing to establish the parent-child relationship before the intended fathers registered the births and formally acknowledged the children.
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