Wanted Japanese father "mass-producing children" in Thailand

Thai police recently launched a manhunt for a Japanese businessman who is the father of 16 children in Thailand and is "producing" dozens more children.

Japanese businessman is believed to be the owner of a "baby factory" in Thailand.

According to SCMP (China) and Bangkok Post of Thailand, the suspect named Mitsutoki Shigeta is the son of a Japanese billionaire with assets worth billions of dollars.

Mitsutoki Shigeta has so far fathered 16 children from women in Thailand through surrogacy and even wants to have "hundreds more". The person directly leading the investigation, General Kokiat Wongvorachart, Shigeta has visited Thailand 41 times since 2010. Many times, Shigeta has traveled to Cambodia, bringing 4 children with him.

Have 16 children since 2013

Earlier this month, Shigeta provided evidence in the form of DNA tests from Japan that showed he was the father of the children. Shigeta quickly left Thailand after the August 5 raid on his apartment where Thai police discovered dozens of children identified as the businessman’s.

General Kokiat said Shigeta had hired 11 Thai nannies to care for the children, including four sets of twins. Thai police are now actively trying to identify the women involved in the surrogacy ring. The founder of the maternity clinic that introduced the two nannies to Shigeta said she had alerted Interpol about the strange figure before the first child was born in June 2013.

“As soon as they got pregnant, he asked for more. He said he wanted dozens of children a year, and he wanted to keep making children until he died,” said Mariam Kukunashvili, founder of New Life, a fertility clinic with offices in Thailand and six other countries.

Shigeta also requested that his sperm be frozen for future use, Kukunashvili told the AP news agency.

"Child production" for personal needs?

Shigeta's motives are unclear, but the businessman has said he wanted a large family and a large electoral base. "The best thing in life is to have many children," Shigeta once said.

Ms Kkunashvili, a spokeswoman for the Georgia-based fertility clinic, said she had never met Shigeta and had only received reports from staff in Thailand. Shigeta’s lawyer, Ratpratan Tulathorn, was present during the search of the apartment and said his client had done nothing wrong.

“These are legitimate children, they all have birth certificates,” Ratpratan told Thai Channel 3. “The children are even registered with bank accounts and personal investments guaranteed by Shigeta,” lawyer Ratpratan said, adding that Shigeta just wanted to have more children and was willing to take care of their lives.

No one knows where Shigeta is now, while Interpol has stepped in to investigate the shocking incident in Thailand. “I have never witnessed such a case,” Interpol Thailand director Major General Apichart Suribunya said yesterday. “We are trying to determine why Shigeta wanted so many children.”

Thai police are currently looking into two possibilities. One is that Shigeta was involved in human trafficking, the other is child abuse. The Japanese businessman could escape prosecution if he can prove that he had legitimate reasons for having so many children and that he could support them to adulthood.

Interpol offices in countries such as Japan, Cambodia, Hong Kong and India have been asked to investigate Shigeta and have full authority to detain him.

According to Life & Law Newspaper