The Malaysian government has said that it believes 139 people are buried in graves at remote detention camps used by people-smugglers on the Thai border which were discovered on the weekend.
Members of a police forensic team carry a body bag with human remains dug from the grave near the abandoned human trafficking camp in the jungle close the Thailand border at Bukit Wang Burma. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/ Reuters
"Based on the size of the graves, and after the area was cleared... we have a clearer indication -- one grave, one person," Deputy Home Affairs Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told reporters on Thursday.
The minister said initial investigations revealed that the bodies were wrapped in a white cloth, in accordance with Muslim tradition, and were marked with wooden sticks.
"Based on our findings so far, seems like proper burial, the bodies were wrapped in white cloth. It is like the Muslim burial ... some of the graves are shallow," Wan Junaidi said at a press conference in the border town of Wang Kelian.
A member of the General Operations Force controls the checkpoint on the road near the area where the abandoned human trafficking camp was discovered in the jungle close to the Thailand. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/ Reuters
Malaysian police said earlier this week that a total of 139 grave sites and 28 recently abandoned camps had been found along the northern border with Thailand, capable of housing hundreds of people.
Malaysian police believe they were used by human-traffickers and smugglers. Thai police in early May had uncovered similar camps on their side of the border.
They launched a crackdown that disrupted the flow of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar down through Thailand and across the land border into Malaysia.
That left boats loaded with hundreds of starving migrants stuck at sea. Malaysia and Indonesia recently agreed to let vessels land safely following an international outcry.
Policemen monitor as forensic experts dig out human remains near the abandoned human trafficking camp in the jungle close the Thailand border at Bukit Wang Burma in northern Malaysia. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/ Reuters
Malaysian police said 37 people have been arrested this year on suspicion of human-trafficking, but have given no details.
In Thursday's press conference, Wan Junaidi said Malaysian security forces had not been patrolling the area where the grave sites were found because they were seen as being inaccessible.
Malaysian police commandos surveyed the area starting from May 11 after the discovery of the graves in Thailand, he said.
