DSI joins forces with relevant agencies to search a clinic in the Rama IV area linked to an illegal international surrogacy ring

DSI joins forces with relevant agencies to search a clinic in the Rama IV area linked to an illegal international surrogacy ring

On Friday, November 7, 2025, at 07:00 AM, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), under the direction of Police Captain Wisanu Chimtrakool, Deputy Director General of the DSI, assigned Police Captain Thinavudth Silapat (Director of Bureau of Foreign Affairs and Transnational Crime), Police Lieutenant Colonel Parinya Kritsana (Director of the Transnational Crime Division 2), and Mr. Khomkanit Phonghirun (Director of the Transnational Crime Division 1) to lead an investigation team for the investigation case no. 62/2568. They joined forces with the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) and the Department of Health Service Support (HSS), Ministry of Public Health, to execute search warrants and seize all relevant documents and computer data for further case analysis, as follows:

Point 1 concerns a medical clinic located in a building on Rama IV Road, Khlong Toei District, Bangkok. During the investigation, it was discovered that medical personnel involved in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) services related to this case were connected to this facility. Furthermore, treatment records and related documents belonging to suspects involved in surrogacy were found there. Upon searching the premises, Thai and foreign women were undergoing examination, suspected to be undergoing preparations for pregnancy.

Point 2 refers to the laboratory of a specialized obstetrics and gynecology clinic within the same building, The investigation team found an examination room and basic equipment such as an examination bed/gynecological examination couch, specialized obstetrics/gynecology equipment, internal examination kits, a semen storage room, and other related devices. Additionally, treatment records linked to the surrogacy suspects and the involved medical personnel were found within the clinic's computer data program.

This case originated when the DSI received information regarding illegal surrogacy from the HSS, which in turn was based on a complaint from the Department of Children and Youth (DCY). The DCY provided information regarding the protection of two female infants who may have been born from surrogacy. This followed coordination with the Immigration Office in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on December 25, 2567 (2024), where two Chinese men were found traveling with the infants without a mother present. Consequently, an investigation was conducted involving Thai nationals, and a total of four individuals were repatriated to Thailand for the DSI to proceed according to its authority.

Surrogacy can be carried out if permission is granted following legal procedures, which have conditions for those who have difficulty having children under the Protection of a Child Born By Medically Assisted Reproductive Technology Act, B.E. 2558 (2015). However, it prohibits carrying out surrogacy for commercial purposes. If this law is violated, the hiring party, brokers, doctors, scientists, surrogate mothers, and those involved in the network are all subject to criminal liability and legal penalties. The DSI is committed to operating within its authority to combat illegal surrogacy networks and will definitively take action against all parties involved in the offense.