Over 1,000 foetuses kept in freezer
The initial investigation revealed the young men were volunteers of a charity group, Hanoi Life Sharing, which often collects abandoned foetuses from private clinics and hospitals for a funeral. They often held funerals at the cemeteries in Thanh Oai, Soc Son district and in Nam Dinh Province.
Because the cemeteries are located far away, the group had to store the foetuses in freezers.
Le Thanh Trung, representative of the group said there were 1,300 foetuses in the freezers. They always make records of the foetuses they collected and had provided the evidence to the police.
According to Trung, the group has 8,000 members and started collecting foetuses about seven years ago. Their volunteers collected 40-50 foetuses each day. The foetuses were cleaned up and kept in the freezers before they were transferred to the cemetery.
Trung said they had persuaded 10 clinics and hospitals in Hanoi to give away foetuses.
"We also had many difficulties. We may clash with for-profit groups who charge VND100,000 per foetus. Some of our members have been threatened and beat up but it's not too serious to report to the police yet," Trung said. "We also clash with people that offer abortion services that often wander outside hospitals."
The police said that the incident was not criminal. However, it raised environmental concerns over the group's practice. The investigation is still ongoing.
