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Malaysia finds mass graves with 24 bodies near Thai border

It was not immediately clear if the bodies discovered were those of Rohingya, a minority ethnic group in Myanmar, whose members have fled widespread persecution in that country.

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Malaysian authorities have found two dozen bodies in mass graves near the Thai border.

According to The Star newspaper, the deceased are believed to have been Rohingya and Bangladeshis, and suspected to have died of malnourishment or abuse.

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.

The discoveries have exposed hidden networks of jungle camps run by human smugglers, who have for years held countless desperate people captive while extorting ransoms from their families.

“Some Thai officials are complicit in trafficking crimes, and corruption continues to undermine anti-trafficking efforts”, the State Department said.

“It was raining heavily recently and the downpour swept away the soil and revealed the remains”.

It is learnt that men from the police forensics team and the General Operations Force had dug up the remains after the graves were discovered a few days ago. The bodies have been sent for autopsy, the statement said.

The new graves were found near the site some 500 meters from the border, where Malaysian police found 28 abandoned refugee camps in May.

A major human trafficking path goes across the Thai-Malaysian border.

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In reaction to increasing worldwide pressure, Malaysia and Indonesia promised they would no longer be pushing back migrant vessels seeking to reach their shores.

The graves were found in the state of Perlis near the Thai border not far from 139 grave sites unearthed in Perlis