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THEY ARE STILL COMING!
Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia’s wealthier economies, has long been a magnet for illegal immigrants from poorer countries in the region, especially for the Rohingys.
Malaysia is one of the two Muslim-majority countries that have shown the most sympathy for the Rohingyas. The other is Indonesia.
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Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Alwi Ibrahim was reported on May 11 as saying that investigations have not shown any human trafficking camps or graves of the Rohingya located in Malaysia.
HE HAS BEEN PROVEN WRONG.
25 MAY 2015
Malaysia finds 139 suspected migrant graves: police chief http://tdy.sg/1Bl0v8e
…
139 grave sites, 28 trafficking camps found: IGP http://www.nst.com.my/node/85491 #nst170 #breakingnews
…
JUST IN: Malaysia’s police chief says largest camp found could have housed up to 300 people http://bit.ly/1EslLsO
…24 MAY 2015
Malay Mail Online
Zahid confirms mass graves discovery in Padang Besar
KAJANG, May 24 — The Home Ministry today confirmed the discovery of mass graves near 17 tents believed to have been used to accommodate refugees in Padang Besar.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi said the General Operations Force (GOF) and the VAT 69 Commando unit had found 14 large tents and three other smaller tents located on the Malaysia-Thailand border.
Shocked by the discovery, he said the tents were believed to have been operational for at least five years and they were believed to have been abandoned when the authorities came to the location.
“Today, the inspector-general of police (IGP) and his deputy are at the Malaysia-Thailand border for identification and confirmation. The graves were identified as those for the refugees in the human trafficking trade.
“Probably, one grave has maybe three, four bodies or maybe only one. So we are counting at the moment.
– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/zahid-confirms-mass-graves-discovery-in-padang-besar#sthash.2lN1ZsG8.dpuf
…
其中一個在巴東勿剎發現的荒塚，相信葬了近100名羅興亞偷渡客的屍體… http://bit.ly/1cUweY3
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Malaysia Edition Alleged Rohingya migrants mass grave found in Padang Besar, says report http://fb.me/3EjtYI2Gy
Malaysia Edition 
…
Malay Mail Online
After ministry denial, mass graves with hundreds of dead immigrants found in Perlis
KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Police have discovered 30 mass graves in Perlis believed to contain hundreds of Rohingya and Bangladeshi corpses, after the Home Ministry denied the existence of human trafficking camps in Malaysia.
Utusan Malaysia’s Sunday edition, Mingguan Malaysia, reported today that the graves were found mid-May in forests in Padang Besar and Wang Kelian, and are believed to be linked to the mass graves found previously in Songkhla, Thailand, from which Thai authorities had exhumed 26 bodies likely to be of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The newspaper also reported that several foreigners and local villagers were arrested under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 on suspicion of bringing in the migrants.
“The migrants are believed to move from one location to another. So far, the operation is still ongoing and we’re confident that we’ll find more graves and evidence of other camps,” a source told Mingguan Malaysia.
The source also reportedly said that some among the villagers arrested comprised businessmen from Wang Kelian who were desperate to find a source of income following a drop in tourism because of the enforcement of passport controls for border crossings.
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14 May 2015
“Their country is not at war”: Malaysia on turning back migrant boats http://cna.asia/1HfFqRd
KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK: Malaysia said on Thursday it would push boats full of migrants back to sea, a policy that has drawn criticism from the U.N. refugee agency as thousands remained adrift in Southeast Asian waters.
The UNHCR has said several thousand migrants have been abandoned at sea by smugglers following a Thai crackdown on human trafficking and has warned the situation could develop into a “massive humanitarian crisis”.
The crackdown has made traffickers wary of landing in Thailand, the preferred destination for the region’s people smuggling networks, and led to a surge in migrants to Indonesia and Malaysia.
“We are sending them the right signal, to send them to where they came from,” Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said.
“Their country is not at war. If there is nothing wrong with the ship, they should sail back to their own country.”
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/send-boatpeople-back-home/1847118.html?cid=FBINT
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M’sia turns away 2 boats with more than 800 migrants, says cannot afford to keep being “nice” http://tdy.sg/1RHHYxk
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Friendless and despised, Myanmar’s Rohingyas Asia’s ‘pariah’ people http://bit.ly/1KNprug
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#Thailand discovers another suspected refugee camp; the biggest one so far: Report http://bit.ly/1JfgZpe
The camp is believed to be used to detain Rohingya refugees. It could hold more than 1,000 people, said the report. It has 21 bedrooms, eight toilets, two watch towers, four stoves and a large hall, which is still under construction.
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THESE ARE ON THEIR WAY! Probably to Malaysia.
About 12,000 of the mostly stateless Rohingya have left the western Myanmar state of Rakhine since Oct. 15, said Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which tracks migration across the Bay of Bengal.
http://www.todayonline.com/world/bangladesh-rescues-malaysia-bound-illegal-migrants-boat
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These 116 were on their way, 22 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, and the others Bangladeshis.
JUST IN: Bangladesh rescues Malaysia-bound illegal migrants from boat http://tdy.sg/1IxnPHq
…DHAKA – A Bangladesh coastguard and navy team rescued 116 Malaysia-bound migrants on Tuesday, including several children, from a boat that had been abandoned by its crew in the Bay of Bengal, the coastguard said.
Coastguard Station Commander Dickson Chowdhury said the migrants were taken into police custody after the Thai-owned boat was discovered near St Martin’s Island, off the coast of Myanmar. Twenty-two of those on board were Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, and the rest were Bangladeshis.
http://www.todayonline.com/world/bangladesh-rescues-malaysia-bound-illegal-migrants-boat
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Star
May 13, 2015 MYT 3:54:11 PM
IGP: Two cops among 38 nabbed for human smuggling
PETALING JAYA: Two policemen were among the 38 individuals arrested for human trafficking activities in northern Malaysia and south Thailand.
In a statement Wednesday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said close cooperation and partnership between the Royal Malaysian Police and the Royal Thai Police resulted in seven human trafficking syndicates busted.
“The suspects – 21 Myanmarese, 16 Malaysians and an Indonesian – were picked up between March and April this year.
“They comprised agents, syndicate leaders, transporters and two policemen,” he said, adding that the individuals were detained under Section 26(A) of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.
Khalid revealed that the syndicates predominantly prey on Myanmar and Bangladesh nationals.
“They are also believed to be involved in falsifying United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) documents,” he said.
—
US calls for regional response to SE Asia #migrant crisis http://www.nst.com.my/node/84147 #nst170
—
May 13, 2015
RM50 a day to provide shelter for asylum seekers: http://bit.ly/1KHnteR
…PETALING JAYA: It costs between RM30 and RM50 a day to provide shelter for a human trafficking victim in Malaysia, according to the Department for Women’s Development (DWD).
Fatheen Erryanee Rosli, an assistant director at DWD, revealed that there were 125 women victims currently under the department’s protection, setting the department back around RM5,000 a day.
“If a court finds that a woman has been trafficked, it will issue a protection order and send her to our shelter homes,” she said.
Women make up the most number of human trafficking victims, with four out of seven shelter homes in Malaysia being dedicated to female victims.
Fathleen explained that most victims have been traumatised and require counselling for their rehabilitation, which adds to the cost.
DWD falls under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/05/13/RM50-a-day-to-provide-shelter-for-asylum-seekers/
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Star
Wednesday May 13, 2015 MYT 6:54:45 AM
‘Solve refugee problem soon’
KUALA LUMPUR: A human tragedy of “catastrophic proportions” looms if the influx of Rohingya refugees into Malaysia is not dealt with immediately.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Special Representative on Rohingya Muslims Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said Asean should address the issue urgently.
“This problem must be discussed in Asean, especially among the countries involved, namely Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.
“Otherwise, it is going to turn into a catastrophe and a human tragedy,” said the long-serving former foreign minister.
—
Time
Malaysia to Push Back Rohingya Unless Boats Are Sinking
Unless they’re unseaworthy and sinking
(LANGKAWI, Malaysia) — Abandoned at sea, thousands of Bangladeshis and members of Myanmar’s long-persecuted Rohingya Musilm minority appear to have no place to go after two Southeast Asian nations refused to offer refuge to boatloads of hungry men, women and children.
Smugglers have fled wooden trawlers in recent days amid fear of a massive regional crackdown on human trafficking syndicates, leaving migrants to fend for themselves.
The United Nations pleaded for countries in the region to keep their borders open and help rescue those stranded.
“We won’t let any foreign boats come in,” Tan Kok Kwee, first admiral of Malaysia’s maritime enforcement agency, said Tuesday.
Unless they’re unseaworthy and sinking, he said, the navy will provide “provisions and send them away.”
Hours earlier, Indonesia pushed back a boat packed with hundreds of Rohingya and Bangladeshis, saying they were given food, water and directions to Malaysia — their original destination.
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India World NW @ENIN_NW_World
Hundreds of refugees arrive in Malaysia, Indonesia after Thai crackdown
LHOKSUKON, Indonesia/KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia detained more than a thousand Bangladeshi and Rohingya refugees, including dozens of children, police said, a day after authorities rescued hundreds stranded off the coast of Indonesia’s western tip.
There has been a huge increase in refugees from impoverished Bangladesh and Myanmar drifting on boats to Malaysia and Indonesia in recent days after Thailand, usually the initial destination in the region’s people smuggling network, announced a crackdown on the trafficking.
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UPDATE: Nearly 2,000 boat people rescued or swum to shore in #Malaysia and #Indonesia http://bit.ly/1bJef62
…1,018 #Rohingya refugees rescued off Langkawi http://cna.asia/1KzGnnO
Al Jazeera America Photos: Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees wash up in Malaysia, Indonesia http://alj.am/1FfD7jF
#Malaysia detains 1,018 #Bangladeshi and #Rohingya refugees http://goo.gl/sI4cH4
…KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia detained 1,018 Bangladeshi and Rohingya refugees after they arrived in three boats on Monday, police said, a day after Indonesian authorities rescued 600 stranded off the coast of Aceh.
More than 100,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled violence and poverty in Myanmar since 2012. Most travel in traffickers’ boats to Thailand, where they are held by traffickers in squalid jungle camps before a ransom is paid.
Police in the northwest Malaysian island of Langkawi said three boats arrived in the middle of the night to unload the refugees, but only one boat was discovered after it got stuck on a breakwater, Langkawi police chief Harrith Kam Abdullah told Reuters.
Some 555 Bangladeshis and 463 Rohingya, including 99 women and 54 children, landed illegally and would be handed to the immigration department, he added.
– See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/malaysia-detains-1018-bangladeshi-and-rohingya-refugees#xtorCS1-4
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UPDATE: About 1,400 migrants rescued off #Malaysia, #Indonesia http://bit.ly/1bJef62
…KUALA LUMPUR / JAKARTA (AFP) – Four boats carrying some 1,400 Rohingya migrants were rescued off the coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia on Monday, officials said, a day after nearly 600 others arrived in a wooden vessel off Indonesia’s Aceh.
All the boats appear to have been abandoned as Thailand, their usual destination, cracks down on the trafficking of ethnic Rohingya Muslims bound for neighbouring countries, after the discovery of dozens of remains in mass graves at “slave camps” in the Thai south.
– See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/more-1000-boat-people-land-malaysia-police-20150511#sthash.qDNv5CSL.dpuf
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UPDATE: Authorities say more boats could be arriving after 400 migrants rescued off Indonesia http://bit.ly/1bJ62if
JAKARTA (AFP) – A second boat carrying hundreds of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh has been rescued off Indonesia’s far west coast, an official said Monday, less than a day after nearly 600 others arrived in a wooden vessel seeking refuge.
“Our search and rescue team found another boat with more than 400 migrants, Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladeshis, drifting off the waters off east Aceh early this morning,” Aceh provincial search and rescue chief Budiawan told AFP.
He said authorities believed there could be more boats arriving, with fishermen assisting in patrolling the waters off Aceh.
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Thai politician arrested over alleged involvement in human trafficking http://bit.ly/1dWpqty
…BANGKOK (THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Thai police arrested a local politician in southern Satun province over his alleged involvement in human trafficking, while two other suspects who are his aides are among 49 wanted suspects.
Abu Ha-ura is among four politicians in custody, who also include the mayor and deputy mayor of Padang Besar municipality in Songkhla. Two other unnamed suspects were also arrested, bringing the total number of people detained to 15.
Abu, 54, a councillor with the provincial assembly representing Khuan Don district, had allegedly confessed to the crimes, after he was charged with human trafficking, abduction and restraint of others’ freedom.
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There is a high possibility that Malaysians are involved in border human trafficking related to the mass grave that was uncovered last week in Songkhla, Thailand, says Malaysian non-government organisation Tenaganita, or Women’s Force.
—
Star
Friday May 8, 2015 MYT 8:17:03 AM
Rohingya: Malaysia has slave camps too
Out of ‘hell’: Suspected ethnic Rohingya migrants, who were rescued by Thai officials from a jungle, being detained in Songkhla province. Police discovered a mass grave in Songkhla containing 26 bodies at an abandoned camp used by human traffickers. The remains were of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, police said. — EPA
PADANG BESAR: After the discovery of “death camps” in southern Thailand, reports are now trickling in that there may be similar slave camps housing illegal immigrants on the Malaysian side of the border.
The former president of the Rohingya club in Thailand involved in helping refugees, Abdul Kalam, alleged that Malaysia is home to some 80% of the holding camps where young Rohingya and Bangladeshi “slaves” brought in by human traffickers are kept.
Malaysians are also directly involved in the trafficking syndicate, he alleged yesterday.
Abdul Kalam, who works with Thai police as a translator when Myanmar refugees are rescued, said the slave trafficking camps near the Thai border typically house between 500 and 1,000 people.
“The situation has worsened in the last 10 years, with about 50 camps near the border.
“There are more camps in Malaysia now as the Thai government has been clamping down on human traffickers,” Abdul Kalam, 58, alleged.
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Star
Friday May 8, 2015 MYT 6:21:25 PM
Thailand wants Malaysia, Myanmar help to stop human trafficking
BANGKOK: Thailand’s junta chief on Friday called for Malaysia and Myanmar’s help in stamping out the region’s thriving human trafficking trade following the discovery of remains from dozens of migrants.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said he had asked his foreign ministry to seek a three-way meeting with counterparts from the neighbouring countries before the end of May.
In recent years tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, mainly from Myanmar, have braved the dangerous sea crossing to southern Thailand, with many headed for Malaysia and beyond.
The recent discovery of migrant graves and a network of secret jungle camps run by people smugglers in the deep south have highlighted Thailand’s central role in a grim trade in which officials have long been accused of complicity.
“We are the middle country, what should we do?” Prayut told reporters.
“They (the migrants) have to pass Thailand on the way. But the third country doesn’t want to accept them (either),” he added.
The Thai leader, who took over in a coup nearly a year ago, suggested officials across the region were benefiting from the trade.
“There have been evil people as well as the authorities. But without the authorities joining in, it wouldn’t happen,” he said, adding corrupt officials should be “got rid of”.
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Thai mayor, more than 50 police officers under investigation for links to human trafficking http://tdy.sg/1IlPbQW
BANGKOK — Thailand’s national police chief said a powerful mayor was arrested today (May 8) and that more than 50 police officers were under investigation in the country’s widening human-trafficking scandal.
Police chief General Somyot Poompanmoung identified the mayor of Padang Besar in southern Thailand, Mr Banjong Pongphon, as a “key suspect” in the investigation that began one week ago when dozens of bodies were exhumed from a jungle camp in the mountains of his constituency.
In an urgently called meeting of senior police officers from around Thailand, Mr Somyot delivered the strongest admission yet of police involvement in trafficking syndicates that use Thailand as a regional transit hub. Human rights groups have long accused Thai authorities of collusion in the trafficking industry but the claims were routinely denied by police.
“If you are still neglecting, or involved with, or supporting or benefiting from human-trafficking networks — your heads will roll,” Mr Somyot told the meeting at Bangkok’s national police headquarters.
http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/thai-trafficking-crackdown-targets-corrupt-police-officials
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Star
Thursday May 7, 2015 MYT 3:43:10 PM
Prayut issues 10-day deadline over migrant camp mystery
BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday gave a 10-day deadline for a complete scrutiny of all areas for possible detention camps and graves related to trafficked migrants.
Local authorities would look for existing crimes or related illegal activities, said Deputy Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd.
The scans would be carried out through normal procedures but if problems or delays were encountered, Article 44 of the provisional constitution would be invoked to clear any obstacles, he said, without giving details on how the measures would be adopted under the article.
The Interior Ministry’s Provincial Administration Department would gather information from local agencies during the 10-day scan before holding meetings to pass on instructions from the government on how to tackle the problems that had arisen.
“If government officials are found involved and local agencies are powerless to deal with them, report the findings to the department director-general and the government will step in to deal with the problems,” he said.
Local officials from village heads to district chiefs would not only search for signs of Rohingya trafficking, such as detention camps and graves, but also other crimes ranging from land encroachment and illegal or unregulated fishing to the drug trade.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/05/07/Thai-PM-issues-deadline-migrant-camps/
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Malaysians likely behind #Thailand Songkhla human trafficking camp, says NGO http://bit.ly/1DRBnps
PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – There is a high possibility that Malaysians are involved in border human trafficking related to the mass grave that was uncovered last week in Songkhla, Thailand, says Malaysian non-government organisation Tenaganita, or Women’s Force.
“From the testimonies of the migrant and refugee communities, in particularly the Myanmar, Rohingyas and Bangladeshi communities, Malaysians are very much involved in the trafficking of persons at the Thailand-Malaysia border,” said Glorene Das, director of the Kuala Lumpur-based human rights group.
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RT @VoiceRohingya:more mass graves of suspected #RohingyaMuslims found in Thailand http://ibt.uk/A006IGA @IBTimesUK
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Police find 2 more camps believed to have held human trafficking victims in southern Thailand: http://apne.ws/1F3wsZM
The Associated Press 
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Collected News Four arrests over discovery of Thai ‘detention camp,’ graves http://ift.tt/1FMNVUV [Sale http://goo.gl/WWxS1W ] #news
CNN International 
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Thailand mass graves reveal migrant-slave deaths and media shackles http://bit.ly/1bqDEBf via @crikey_news
Crikey.com.au 
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This second camp was uncovered just one kilometre from the one found earlier.
#Thailand‘s police find graves at second migrant jungle camp http://bit.ly/1ETDYo6
BANGKOK (AFP) – Investigators in southern Thailand have discovered five graves at a second remote jungle camp believed to contain the remains of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, police said Tuesday.
The camp was uncovered just one kilometre from a similar encampment on a steep hillside close to the Malaysian border, where forensic teams found 26 bodies over the weekend, all but one buried in shallow graves.
“We found the second camp yesterday evening,” national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters, saying the location was close to the first camp which lay 25km west of Padang Besar in Thailand’s southern Songkhla province.
“We also found five graves but cannot yet confirm whether any bodies are in them. Authorities will look into this,” he added.
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THIS MASS GRAVE IS AT AN ILLEGAL MIGRANT CAMP ACROSS THE THAI BORDER, JUST 300 METRES FROM PERLIS. The place was where they held illegal migrants who were on the way to Malaysia…
…
02 May 2015
Two survivors – men aged 25 and 35 – told doctors they had spent months at the camp despite falling sick and having little to eat.
Thai forensics exhume three skeletons from migrant mass grave http://cna.asia/1I0X0tF
…PADANG BESAR: The badly decayed remains of at least three more migrants thought to be from Myanmar or Bangladesh were exhumed on Saturday (May 2) from a mass grave in southern Thailand, as details emerged of the maltreatment endured at the remote people smugglers’ camp.
Thai forensic teams dug out the latest skeletons from shallow graves covered by bamboo and few of feet of dirt on Saturday afternoon, according to an AFP reporter at the abandoned jungle camp in Sadao district, in Songkhla province.
Authorities have found the remains of least eight people since Friday’s grim discovery of the site, a find which has again laid bare Thailand’s central role in a regional human trafficking trade.
Police are investigating more than 20 other apparent graves in the area, which is a few hundred metres (yards) from the border with Malaysia.
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30 graves found at suspected Thai trafficking camp: Police http://tdy.sg/1AoRMRW
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#Thailand rescue teams bring down a dead #Rohingya body from human traffickers death camp on #Thai – #Malaysia border
bangkokdave Mass migrant graveyard: Over 30 graves in area used to smuggle migrants to Malaysia https://shar.es/1pKQFR #Thailand
…
Free Malaysia Today
Thais find mass graves of refugees 300m from Perlis
One man being treated in Padang Besar, decaying corpses of up to 50 Rohingya dug up.
SONGKHLA – The mass graves of up to 50 Rohingya refugees have been discovered at a human-trafficking camp only 300m from the border with Perlis, police said.
There was only one survivor, a man from Bangladesh, who is being treated at a hospital in Padang Besar, Perlis. The hospital confirmed he was extremely emaciated but was in stable condition, Reuters reported.
He may have been abandoned with a group that was moved across the border into Malaysia two days ago.
A police official in Songkhla said the Rohingya, who are Muslims from the border region between Bangladesh and Myanmar, may have starved to death or died of disease while waiting for ransoms to be paid for them to be smuggled into Malaysia, according to a Reuters report quoted by the Bangkok Post.
Villagers quoted by Thai television said the refugees had died of sickness and some died in fights after having quarrels among themselves. A tip-off by a Malaysian led Songkhla provincial police and soldiers to the camp, in mountainous jungle near Padang Besar.
Some of the bodies were buried, while others were covered with clothing and blankets, Police Col Weerasant Tharnpiem told The Associated Press.
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