Malaysian man is ‘caught smuggling a human embryo into India’

A Malaysian man was allegedly caught smuggling a live human embryo into India for use at a high-end IVF clinic.

Partiban Durai is said to have carried the barely developed human in a nitrogen-packed canister. 

Officials said he was stopped at Mumbai airport and showed them the clinic in the suburb of Bandra West where he claimed he was planning to deliver the embryo. 

Durai is accused of making 10 such trips to the fertility clinic in the space of 18 months, the Times of India reported. 

Goral Gandhi, head of the Indo Nippon clinic, denied that the embryo was intended for use there. 

But lawyers for the Indian government claimed they had text messages which showed the clinic as the intended recipient. 

The Malaysian alleged smuggler was reportedly told to co-operate with Indian officials after he was stopped at the airport. 

He is said to have sent his clients pictures of the five-star hotel where he was staying in order to convince them the plan was still going smoothly. 

Officials said the clinic had then told Durai to bring the embryo, and that Gandhi had received it as planned.  

In 2016 India passed a law which allowed ‘altruistic’ surrogacy among close relatives, but commercial surrogacy is banned 

Indo Nippon describes itself on its website as a ‘team of specialists’ who have delivered 9,000 babies over 25 years. 

The clinic says it has ‘helped hundreds of couples have babies through Assisted Reproduction’.  

Goral Gandhi is described as the ‘Scientific And Laboratory Director’ of the clinic.  

In 2016 India passed a law which allowed ‘altruistic’ surrogacy among close relatives, but commercial surrogacy is banned.