Mass graves of suspected trafficking victims found in Malaysia

Mass graves and suspected human trafficking detention camps have been discovered by Malaysian police in towns and villages bordering Thailand, the country’s home minister said on Sunday. Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said officials are determining whether the graves were of human trafficking victims. The Malay-language newspaper Utusan Malaysia, quoting an unnamed source, said about 30 mass graves had been found containing “hundreds of skeletons”. Another paper, The Star, said graves were “believed to contain nearly 100 Rohingya migrants”.

But we don’t know how many there are. We are probably going to find more bodies.

Home Minister Zahid Hamidi, as quoted by The Star newspaper

Thai police in early May found secret jungle camps on their side of the border and dozens of shallow graves thought to contain the remains of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants. Malaysia’s government had previously denied that any such mass graves or slave camps existed on its soil. Malaysian police declined to release any information on the grave discovery. But a police spokeswoman confirmed that the national police chief was expected to hold a press conference on the matter on Monday.

Asia-Pacific