Cai GuoLin, the alleged leader of an illegal surrogacy ring, in court. VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

HÀ NỘI — A Hà Nội court has decided to adjourn a hearing regarding an illegal surrogacy ring due to the absence of some key participants.

The Hà Nội People’s Court on Monday opened the first hearing of five people accused of operating a surrogacy network for commercial purposes, the first time the crime has gone to the city's court.

Due to the absence of representatives from the People’s Procurary for health reasons and six other participants that were summoned by the court, the judge panel decided to postpone the trial to October 14.

The accused are Chinese nationals Cai Guo Lin, 37, Cai Guo Fang, 54, Triệu Thị Hằng from the central province of Thanh Hóa, Hoàng Thị Thu Trang from the northern province of Hưng Yên and Nguyễn Thị Ngọc from Bắc Ninh Province.

According to the indictment, Cai Guo Lin worked at a private hospital specialising in fertility and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) services in China, which is owned by Guo Yong.

In early September 2018, Cai Guo Lin and Cai Guo Fang were sent to Việt Nam to find surrogate mothers.

After arriving, Cai met a Chinese doctor named Apo who introduced him to Trang, an interpreter at Thiên Hòa Clinic in Hà Nội’s Cầu Giấy District.

Cai asked Trang to work as an interpreter for him and search for potential surrogate mothers.

Trang is alleged to have asked Hằng to find a surrogate mother. Hang introduced N.T.T, 31, from Hà Nội’s Long Biên District, to Cai who brought her to China for the duration of the pregnancy.
In November last year, Hằng introduced Trang to six other women willing to be surrogate mothers.

On December 11, Cai, Hằng, Trang and Ngọc took the surrogate mothers from Hà Nội to HCM City before departing to Cambodia.

When in HCM City, the group stayed at a hotel in District 3. After becoming scared of the prospect of being trafficked, one of the women called her family, leading to the arrests being made. — VNS