Thailand finds more mass migrant graves of suspected Rohingya Muslims

Thai authorities have found 30 more graves of suspected Rohingya Muslims in detention camps in border areas.

The illegal graveyard was found in Hat Yai district, Songkhla, on Thursday, 7 May, a week after a similar mass grave was discovered.

Police said the graves have not been opened as yet for examination. Locals say the graves have been at the location for more than a year. Investigators confirmed the graveyard closely resembles the illegal mass grave which was found earlier in the jungle camp.

The latest discovery has come when dozens of police officers are being punished for their alleged links with human traffickers.

"We have transferred over 50 police officers over this issue because commanders in local areas know who has been involved in what," Police Commissioner General Pol Gen Somyot Poompanmuang told reporters.

"In the past there were no sincere efforts to solve this problem. This is only something that has happened recently."

The police believe the victims, mostly smuggled in by human traffickers, were starved to death.

Thai authorities found about 32 mass graves suspected to be of Myanmar and Bangladeshi migrants in a jungle camp which is frequented by human traffickers on 2 May. At least 30 of the remains have been recovered from a shallow graveyard in a remote and rugged mountain area near the border with Malaysia.

Following the finding, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has ordered a severe crackdown on the illegal trade.