After more than 300 fetuses found at a temple in Bangkok, police raided illegal abortion clinic and arrested a woman who delivered the fetuses to the undertaker, Thai media reported Thursday.
After the crackdown on illegal abortion clinics, following the discovery of 348 fetuses, police found the woman who said she had been paid to transport fetuses to an undertaker at Wat Phai Ngern Chotanaram, Buddhist temple in Bangkok's Bang Kholaem district.
Lanjakorn Jantamanas, 33, told investigators that she received 500 baht (about 17 U.S. dollars) each trip to deliver fetuses from various clinics to the temple. She paid an undertaker 200 baht ( about 7 U.S. dollars) for making the delivery.
Lanjakorn made the confession after the police raided a shophouse which she opened as a medical clinic on Wednesday. On the first floor of the clinic, however, was found very dusty, while, on the fourth floor, the police found structures of patients' beds and leg rests.
She later confessed that she also ran abortion business.
Lanjakorn said having been assistance to a doctor in an abortion clinic for many years, she knew how to carry out abortion for the patients, mostly teenagers. After the doctor ended the business, she bought the clinic and ran the "business" by herself.
On Tuesday, after nearby residents of Wat Phai Ngern Chotanaran complained about foul smell coming from the temple, the abbot asked the staff to search for the source of the smell. The staff traced the smell to the morgue's compartment No.17 where they found 348 plastic bags containing the baby fetuses inside.
Suthep Chabangbon, 46-year-old undertaker, confessed that he has taken the job for about three months.
Normally, he accumulated the bodies and cremated them altogether. But as the crematorium has not been working, Suthep kept the remains inside the compartment No.17, where it started to emit foul smell.
The grisly discovery of the baby fetuses in Thailand has made a headline in many foreign media as it is unexpected for the incident to happen in a Buddhist temple.
With most of the population being Buddhist, Thai Buddhists have a custom to cremate remains in temple. Four monks will pray for funeral for three or seven days before the day of cremation in the normal ceremony.
Lanjakorn said she has once carried out abortion for far gone pregnancy. The female fetus, however, did not die, so she decided to raise the baby as her own daughter. The baby girl is now two- year old, she said.
Bangkok Post, Thai leading English-language newspaper, said it tried to contact Phra Khru vichit Sorakhun, 69, who has been the temple abbot for one year on Wednesday, but his secretary said he was not available to give any media interviews.
"The incident had caused him great distress," the Bangkok Post reported the abbot's secretary remarks.
Although abortion is illegal in Thailand, about 300,000 teenagers chose abortion to end their unwanted pregnancy each year, according to the Center for Teenager Health, Ramadhibordi Hospital, one of the leading hospitals in Bangkok.
Thai law permits an abortion if pregnancy is the result of rape and incest, or if it endangers the mother's life. Otherwise, women who have abortions face a jail term of up to three years and a fine of up to 6,000 baht.
Those who carry out an abortion, even with the consent of pregnant women also face up to five years in jail and a fine of up to 10,000 baht.
XINHUA
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