By . Damien Gayle . A policeman on duty in Bangkok: Officers in the Thai capital discovered nine children all apparently fathered by the same man when they raided a flat . A police raid on a Bangkok apartment found a pregnant women living with nine babies who are believed to share the same Japanese biological father. There were no documents found with the babies, leading workers at the emergency accommodation where they are being cared for to guess they are aged between two weeks and two years old. A Thai lawyer who was at the apartment at the time of yesterday's raid deepened the mystery by telling police that all nine babies were the children of one wealthy Japanese man. The discovery follows a scandal that erupted after an Australian couple were accused of abandoning a baby boy with Down syndrome born to a Thai surrogate, while taking home his twin sister. Authorities acting on a tip-off raided the condominium in the Lat Phrao area of the Thai capital on Tuesday. Deputy national police chief Aek Angsananont told Reuters a Thai man at the apartment said he was the lawyer of a Japanese businessman. Also present at the plush condominium in a city suburb were nine women, who told authorities they were nannies paid 10,000 baht ($310; £180) a month to look after the children. It was not immediately clear if the babies were also born to surrogate mothers, but the pregnant women found with them later told police she was acting as a surrogate. She said she was being paid . 'We are questioning the nannies, as well as asking for cooperation from the Japanese embassy, to help conduct DNA testing,' Mr Aek told Reuters. He added: 'If the Japanese man admits that all the children are his babies, we would ask him why he wanted to have so many babies.' Mr Aek told AFP the first task was to establish the identity of the children. 'We have to prove who their parents are with DNA tests, and determine if they were born naturally or by surrogacy,' he said, adding the probe would look at the legality of the surrogacies if any have taken place. It could take weeks to prove who their biological fathers and mothers are, police said. Thai authorities have stepped up their scrutiny of surrogacy in the kingdom, following the controversy involving the Australian couple who have denied they rejected the Down's baby - a seven-month-old named Gammy. The Thai surrogate mother said she agreed to carry another Thai donor's egg fertilised by the Australian man in exchange for around $14,900. The man, 56, has since been exposed as a convicted paedophile in Australia. Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, a 21-year-old food vendor, poses with Gammy, a nine-month old baby boy who was born with a Down syndrome, at a hospital in Sri Racha, Chonburi province, Thailand . Surrogacy is illegal in Thailand, unless it is with a relative, and offering money to carry a baby is banned, said medical officials in the kingdom, where the military recently seized power after a period of civil unrest. 'Surrogacy outside bloodline is illegal,' Boonruang Triruangworawat, of the Public Health Ministry, told reporters today. Despite that, there are 45 public and private surrogacy clinics in the kingdom and 240 doctors certified to carry out procedures. 'Currently clinic owners who allow (uncertified) doctors to perform surrogacy will be punished with one year in jail and a fine of $600,' said Mr Triruangworawat. In the wake of the baby Gammy scandal, Thailand's new junta rulers have vowed to beef up punishments and close current loopholes which they say are being exploited by foreigners seeking Thai surrogates. A draft bill proposes a tighter ban on commercial surrogacy carrying up to 10 years in jail for anyone - doctors, egg donors, prospective parents or surrogates - found in breach, according to a junta spokesman.
The children are thought to be aged between two weeks and two years old .
Lawyer at the apartment says they were fathered by a single Japanese man .
Pregnant woman found with them admits she is being paid to be a surrogate .
By . Damien Gayle . A policeman on duty in Bangkok: Officers in the Thai capital discovered nine children all apparently fathered by the same man when they raided a flat . A police raid on a Bangkok apartment found a pregnant women living with nine babies who are believed to share the same Japanese biological father. There were no documents found with the babies, leading workers at the emergency accommodation where they are being cared for to guess they are aged between two weeks and two years old. A Thai lawyer who was at the apartment at the time of yesterday's raid deepened the mystery by telling police that all nine babies were the children of one wealthy Japanese man. The discovery follows a scandal that erupted after an Australian couple were accused of abandoning a baby boy with Down syndrome born to a Thai surrogate, while taking home his twin sister. Authorities acting on a tip-off raided the condominium in the Lat Phrao area of the Thai capital on Tuesday. Deputy national police chief Aek Angsananont told Reuters a Thai man at the apartment said he was the lawyer of a Japanese businessman. Also present at the plush condominium in a city suburb were nine women, who told authorities they were nannies paid 10,000 baht ($310; £180) a month to look after the children. It was not immediately clear if the babies were also born to surrogate mothers, but the pregnant women found with them later told police she was acting as a surrogate. She said she was being paid . 'We are questioning the nannies, as well as asking for cooperation from the Japanese embassy, to help conduct DNA testing,' Mr Aek told Reuters. He added: 'If the Japanese man admits that all the children are his babies, we would ask him why he wanted to have so many babies.' Mr Aek told AFP the first task was to establish the identity of the children. 'We have to prove who their parents are with DNA tests, and determine if they were born naturally or by surrogacy,' he said, adding the probe would look at the legality of the surrogacies if any have taken place. It could take weeks to prove who their biological fathers and mothers are, police said. Thai authorities have stepped up their scrutiny of surrogacy in the kingdom, following the controversy involving the Australian couple who have denied they rejected the Down's baby - a seven-month-old named Gammy. The Thai surrogate mother said she agreed to carry another Thai donor's egg fertilised by the Australian man in exchange for around $14,900. The man, 56, has since been exposed as a convicted paedophile in Australia. Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, a 21-year-old food vendor, poses with Gammy, a nine-month old baby boy who was born with a Down syndrome, at a hospital in Sri Racha, Chonburi province, Thailand . Surrogacy is illegal in Thailand, unless it is with a relative, and offering money to carry a baby is banned, said medical officials in the kingdom, where the military recently seized power after a period of civil unrest. 'Surrogacy outside bloodline is illegal,' Boonruang Triruangworawat, of the Public Health Ministry, told reporters today. Despite that, there are 45 public and private surrogacy clinics in the kingdom and 240 doctors certified to carry out procedures. 'Currently clinic owners who allow (uncertified) doctors to perform surrogacy will be punished with one year in jail and a fine of $600,' said Mr Triruangworawat. In the wake of the baby Gammy scandal, Thailand's new junta rulers have vowed to beef up punishments and close current loopholes which they say are being exploited by foreigners seeking Thai surrogates. A draft bill proposes a tighter ban on commercial surrogacy carrying up to 10 years in jail for anyone - doctors, egg donors, prospective parents or surrogates - found in breach, according to a junta spokesman.
being cared for to guess they are aged between two weeks and two years old. A Thai lawyer who Reuters a Thai man at the apartment said he was mothers, but the pregnant women found with them Japanese man admits that all the children are his The Thai surrogate mother said she agreed to