Police are targeting gynecology clinics and egg donors in a widening investigation of a flourishing illegal trade in human egg cells that has shocked Korea¡¯s conservative society.

Seoul Metropolitan Police is widening the scope of a crackdown that earlier netted a ring of traders who ran a booming business selling the eggs of Korean women to Japanese customers. Police found an additional 380 Japanese names on a list of customers kept by a broker identified as Yoo, who was booked for trading ova since 2002. They already found the names of 249 buyers.

Based on evidence from raids on four obstetrics clinics in southern Seoul on Friday, Seocho Police is also investigating whether doctors knew of the illegal source of the eggs when they performed fertility treatment.

One college student was said to have sold her eggs to three different buyers, while one Japanese customer bought the eggs of two or three Korean women, on one occasion purchasing 19 egg cells from one Korean woman, according to police.

Many of the donors identified themselves as accountants, models and medical students on a website where they advertised to ensure a high price for their eggs. Police said earlier that graduates of leading universities commanded the highest prices due to the genetic snobbery of customers, who also scrutinized photos of donors.

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