BANGKOK (AP) – Interpol said Friday it has launched a multinational investigation into what Thailand has dubbed the “Baby Factory” case: a 24-year-old Japanese businessman who has 16 surrogate babies and an alleged desire to father hundreds more.
Police raided a Bangkok condominium earlier this month and found nine babies and nine nannies living in a few unfurnished rooms filled with baby bottles, bouncy chairs, play pens and diapers. They have since identified Mitsutoki Shigeta as the father of those babies – and seven others.
“What I can tell you so far is that I’ve never seen a case like this,” said Thailand’s Interpol director, police Maj. Gen. Apichart Suribunya. “We are trying to understand what kind of person makes this many babies.”
Apichart said that regional Interpol offices in Japan, Cambodia, Hong Kong and India have been asked to probe Shigeta’s background, beginning last week. Police say he appears to have registered businesses or apartments in those countries and has frequently traveled there.
“We are looking into two motives. One is human trafficking and the other is exploitation of children,” said Thai police Lt. Gen. Kokiat Wongvorachart, Thailand’s lead investigator in the case. He said Shigeta made 41 trips to Thailand since 2010. On many occasions he traveled to nearby Cambodia, where he brought four of his babies.