139 bodies buried in marked graves: KL

WANG KELIAN (Malaysia), May 28 (AFP):  Malaysia said Thursday it believes 139 bodies are buried in marked graves at remote camps used by people-smugglers on the Thai border, wrapped in white cloth after Muslim rites.
The abandoned sites were discovered on the weekend, escalating a crisis that erupted earlier this month when a Thai crackdown on trafficking networks left thousands of desperate people stranded at sea on rickety boats.
"Based on the size of the graves, and after the area was cleared... we have a clearer indication-single grave, single person," Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said in the border town of Wang Kelian.
Malaysia previously said it had discovered 139 grave sites. When asked by AFP if he now believed there were 139 bodies in total, Wan Junaidi said: "Yes."
Thai authorities acted after discovering some 33 bodies in mass graves in camps in the country's south, exposing a deadly trade in Muslim Rohingya who are fleeing persecution in Myanmar, as well as Bangladeshis seeking better opportunities abroad.
"This is not only Malaysia's problem, (it is) an international problem as people come from Bangladesh and Myanmar," Wan Junaidi said.
"It is ASEAN's problem," he added, referring to the Southeast Asian grouping that includes Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.
The camps on Malaysia's side of the border, which could have been capable of housing hundreds of people, drew allegations that authorities and residents had turned a blind eye to the lucrative business.
Wan Junaidi said initial investigations showed the bodies were wrapped in shrouds and their resting places marked with wooden sticks. Camphor was also found at the graves.
"It seems like proper burial, the bodies were wrapped in white cloth. It is like the Muslim burial... some are shallow graves, not all," he told reporters.
Malaysian officials had repeatedly denied that such grisly sites existed despite warnings from activists.
Wan Junaidi said Malaysian security forces had not been patrolling the area because it was thought to be inaccessible.
Malaysian police commandos began surveying it after the discovery of the graves in Thailand, he said.
Because the site is so rugged, the bodies will likely be recovered from the Thai side, he added.
Since Thailand's crackdown threw the smuggling routes into disarray, more than 3,500 starving migrants have arrived in Thai, Malaysian and Indonesia, and others are feared still trapped at sea.
Relatively prosperous Malaysia, which has a Muslim majority, has long been a favoured destination for Rohingya, who often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia.