A HONG KONG resident was recently found to be carrying a large amount of sperm in a travel bag while crossing the Luohu Checkpoint to Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province.

"This is the second time that the man has been found to try to transport human sperm across the border," said an unnamed quarantine official. "However, he refused to say the purpose of smuggling the sperm."

The man used the same checkpoint and had not attempted to change his phone number. He had not breached any law and there won't be an investigation. The checkpoint authority can only return the items to Hong Kong authorities.

Many hospitals on the Chinese mainland had been promoting test-tube babies as new reproductive technology. However, inadequate knowledge about sperm donation had prevented many men from volunteering to donate their sperm and therefore the demand for sperm imported from outside the mainland had increased, yesterday's Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

Experts say it is hard to determine whether sperm not properly packaged and imported are infected with diseases such as hepatitis, sexually-transmitted diseases or even AIDS. There's also no guarantee for the survival of the sperm.