Guangzhou customs uncovers major case of smuggling pregnant women's blood samples

(ECNS) -- The Anti-Smuggling Bureau of Guangzhou Customs mobilized 265 police officers and successfully dismantled two criminal gangs engaged in smuggling blood samples from pregnant women overseas, with over 100,000 such samples involved.

Investigations carried out in Guangzhou, Foshan, and Shenzhen, all in Guangdong Province, showed that the case involved victims from 23 provinces across China, with illicit profits exceeding 30 million yuan (about $211.26 million). This made it the largest and most extensive of its kind cracked by the bureau in recent years.

Anti-smuggling police officers revealed that high profits were the main reason for the criminals to take the risk. In this case, the principal suspect, surnamed Li, illegally gained over seven million yuan in less than five months.

Currently, among the 26 suspects involved in the case, nine have been approved for arrest by the procuratorate, and the case is under further investigation, police said.

Since 2022, multiple government departments have jointly monitored cases involving the illegal export of blood samples. Investigations discovered that certain criminal groups collected blood samples from pregnant women under the guise of fetal gender testing via online platforms, which were then smuggled abroad for laboratory analysis, according to Zheng Zhong, a police officer at the Guangzhou Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau.

Smuggling gangs employed highly covert methods for client recruitment and sample transportation, forming a complete illicit chain that involved online solicitation, express delivery collection, transit storage, and cross-border smuggling. Each link, including domestic blood collection, sample custody during transit, and cross-border concealment, was handled by specialized personnel, demonstrating a highly professionalized and covert modus operandi, police said.

They place advertisements on social media platforms promoting services such as "non‑invasive fetal gender testing" and "genetic disease screening," using phrases like "precision genetic testing" and "safe with zero risk" to lure potential clients, with each test costing 2,000 to 3,000 yuan.

The smuggling of pregnant women's blood samples not only violates the law but also poses severe threats to national biosecurity and public health. China explicitly prohibits non‑medical fetal gender identification, and the export of blood samples requires regulatory approval from authorities overseeing human genetic resources.

(By Zhang Dongfang)