In a shocking discovery in Georgia, a former Soviet republic, authorities have uncovered a disturbing human-egg harvesting operation where over 100 women were enslaved and exploited. This dark and twisted “egg mafia” came to light after three Thai women managed to escape and were freed with the help of a Thailand-based NGO, according to a report by the Bangkok Post.
The victims, including several other Thai women still trapped in the operation, had initially been lured by the promise of lucrative employment. An enticing job advertisement posted on Facebook claimed that women could earn between R219,558 to R324,552 by becoming surrogates for Georgian couples struggling with infertility. Once the women showed interest, their passports and visas were confiscated, and they were flown to Georgia, only to be trapped in a nightmarish situation.
Upon arrival, the women were transported to four large estates where they found themselves surrounded by more than 100 others in the same dire predicament. What they had believed to be a legitimate job offer quickly turned into a nightmare, as they realized they had been deceived into becoming part of a human trafficking ring.
One of the survivors shared her harrowing experience in a media statement. She explained how she and the other women were subjected to hormone treatments to stimulate their ovaries, with the sole purpose of harvesting their eggs. The process involved regular injections and anesthesia, followed by painful egg extractions using machines. The women were forced to endure this grueling procedure every month, their eggs taken with no regard for their well-being or consent.
The harvested eggs were believed to be sold and smuggled to other countries for use in in vitro fertilization (IVF), turning the victims into nothing more than a source of profit for the criminals behind this operation. The discovery of this human trafficking and exploitation ring serves as a stark reminder of the lengths to which some will go to prey on vulnerable individuals, using deception and manipulation to entrap them in unimaginable suffering.
