Malaysia finds 24 more bodies of human trafficking victims

Police uncovered 24 bodies on Saturday in the Bukit Wang Burma area near the Malaysian border with Thailand, close to where authorities in May had found hundreds of bodies in illegal detention camps.

Malaysian police say they have found another 24 bodies of suspected human trafficking victims in jungles bordering Thailand. Those who can pay ransom are released in Malaysia and others are tortured to death. In May, 139 graves were found.

National Security Council chairman Shahidan Kassim confirmed the discovery, telling the website that it had recently rained heavily in the area, “the downpour sweeping away the soil and revealing the remains”. The skeletons are likely to be of human trafficking victims, said Malaysian Police.

The remains have been sent to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar, Kedah, for post-mortem.

Most of the victims were believed to be from Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority ethnic group whose members have fled widespread persecution in Malaysia or impoverished migrants from Bangladesh. In May, several abandoned boats carrying more than 1,000 people washed to shore on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, near Thailand. A probe is on but details of their involvement could not be learnt yet.

The latest police crackdown in May drove traffickers to abandon thousands of migrants floating in overcrowded boats in the water of south-east Asia which resulted in a regional humanitarian crisis.

The Star reported that the remains were discovered a few days ago.

The CID is now investigating more than 200 human trafficking cases filed across the country, he added.