Man Arrested for Robbing Sperm Bank

Okay, this may have nothing to do with online shopping, but here's a salesman you can't ignore!

The following article appeared in our Mail and Guardian of 22nd April, 2008:

Man arrested for robbing sperm bank

New Delhi, India

Police in India have arrested a man for stealing more than 100 sperm samples from a laboratory in the western state of Maharashtra, a news report said on Tuesday.

Police told the Times of India daily that Anil Punjaba Mohite had stolen 101 sperm samples from Cryobank, a sperm bank in central Aurangabad city, last week and offered to sell them for 25 000 rupees (about $625).

Mohite, a relative of a worker in the laboratory, was arrested on Monday following a tip-off from some doctors in Mumbai who had received the samples.

The incident surprised police as well as doctors who said it was not easy to "rob" samples from a sperm bank.

"We are caught in a very difficult situation, as we do not know how many samples have been smuggled out of the laboratory," Cryobank official Suryakant Hayatnagarkar told the daily.

"The incident does not make sense to me. Why would any infertility specialist or gynaecologist buy a sample that has limited shelf life and without proper records?" Aniruddha Malpani was quoted by the Times as saying.

"Why would someone [steal] a commodity that is so hard to sell?" he asked. -- Sapa-dpa

What was that old riddle? "Bothers and sisters have I none, but that man's father is my father's son. Who is that man?" Well, it may not be as easy to answer as it used to be!