Bangkok , Thailand ( CNN ) -- More than 2,000 illegally aborted fetuses have been recovered at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok , Thai police said Friday . The fetuses were initially discovered earlier in the week , given away by the smell of decay at the Phai-nguern Chotinaram temple in central Bangkok . Friday 's recovery efforts brought the total discovered to 2,002 fetuses , police Col. Metee Rakpan said . `` From the confession of one of the morticians of the temple that we interrogated last night , he told us that they received these fetuses from the same places as the first lot of 348 fetus remains , and they became dry , '' said Col. Sombat Milintachinda , chief of the investigation team . `` We think that they might have arrived here about a year ago . '' Authorities had arrested a woman on two charges , Milintachinda said . `` One is to perform illegal abortions and open an unlicensed clinic , '' he said . Two morticians had been charged with hiding bodies and faced about a year in jail if convicted , police added . Temples in Thailand typically have morticians who prepare bodies for cremation . `` From our interrogation of the morticians , they admitted that they have been receiving fetuses for about four years , and they told us that they kept the fetuses until they dried up , so it is easy to burn them , '' Milintachinda said . The fetuses came from illegal abortion clinics , police Lt. Col. Chusak Kumsai said Wednesday . Abortion is illegal in Thailand , unless a woman is endangered by pregnancy or has been raped .
NEW : Police think the bodies have disappeared for a year . NEW : Three men have been charged in the case . The fetuses were delivered at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok . Abortion is illegal in Thailand , unless a woman is endangered by pregnancy or was raped .