‘Na’ (not her real name), a mother of one, simply wanted to find a second job to help pay off her husband’s debts and to care for her child.
One day she saw an interesting job being advertised on a Facebook page, promising high pay as a surrogate mother in Georgia.
She said she did not hesitate to accept the job, only to find herself the victim of a Chinese-led transnational human smuggling ring.
The recruiter claimed she would be paid 400,000-600,000 baht per month, live in well-appointed accommodation and serve as a surrogate for a childless couple from a third country.
The agent covered all her travel expenses, including passport fees and air tickets. The preparation process took about a month.
On August 30 last year, she left Thailand from U-Tapao International Airport in Chon Buri province. Her group included ten other Thai women, led by a guide. Each woman was given US$500 and instructed to show it to immigration officials when asked.
The flight stopped in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, before continuing on to Armenia.
The group spent three nights there, sightseeing and taking photos. On the fourth day, they travelled by train to Georgia, a journey that took about ten hours.
Upon arrival in Georgia, they spent a night in a hotel and had their passports taken away.
The next day, they were escorted to a compound containing four houses. Na was placed in the largest house, where she found about 60 Thai women, some looking tired and others crying, expressing their desire to return to Thailand.
The following day, she was moved to a second dwelling, which housed about ten Thai women. She noticed many Chinese people coming in and out of the house.
The women revealed that they too had been lured to Georgia with promises of working as surrogates, but no foreign couples had arrived to hire them.
According to Na, Chinese gang members forced the women to donate their ova every month, a process that could be harmful to their health. Their lives there had become a living hell.
Nonetheless, Na refused to donate and demanded to return to Thailand, only to be told by the gang that she had to pay 70,000 baht to do so. She contacted her family, who transferred the required sum to a bank account.
Na was then released and returned to Thailand in September but, before she left, three Thai women asked her for help to return to Thailand.
She alerted the Pavena Foundation for Children and Women in Bangkok, which led to a joint rescue operation by Thai police and Interpol.
Na and the three freed women, dressed to conceal their identities, appeared at a press conference held by the Pavena Foundation today.
