No office was found at the registered address in Limassol of an agency of the surrogacy clinic linked to surrogate births in the north, police spokeswoman Kyriaki Lambrianidou said on Monday.

The investigations follow international attention on the case of a British same-sex couple that received newborn twins via a surrogate clinic located in northern Cyprus.

The surrogacy clinic in question, World Centre of Baby (WCOB) reportedly had an agency based in Limassol, though its operations were outsourced to the north, where both insemination and birth took place.

The story has raised legal questions about surrogacy, prompting authorities to scrutinise the practice. Last week, the health ministry filed a case citing surrogacy laws, which permit the practice only under specific, very strict conditions in the Republic. Same sex couples are not eligible.

“This is a very difficult case, and we are still looking into it,” Lambrianidou told the Cyprus Mail. As of now, she said, police could confirm that the Ukrainian founder of the clinic was currently not in Cyprus.

She added that the children had not been registered in the Republic but that it was not clear at this stage where they were, most likely in the north.

Currently, however, there was no exchange of information with the authorities in the north, especially as there had been no complaints from either the fathers or the surrogate mother, therefore the investigations only concerned the complaint from the health ministry.

In a statement to the Cyprus Mail last week, WCOB denied having a headquarters in the Republic but did not clarify whether it maintained a representative agency in Limassol.

The company asserted that it operated strictly within the legal frameworks of jurisdictions where surrogacy is permitted, saying that it ensured the procedures complied with ethical standards in the respective jurisdictions.

WCOB emphasised that its programmes were not conducted in the Republic of Cyprus, describing itself as an “international coordinator for reproductive programmes” rather than a medical facility.

The company’s website has been taken down since the launch of investigations.