Grim secrets of trafficking camps found

Malaysian police forensic teams, digging with hoes and shovels, began on Tuesday to pull out bodies from shallow graves found in abandoned jungle camps, where it is thought hundreds of victims of human traffickers may be buried.

The Malaysian government said it was investigating whether local forestry officials were involved with the people-smuggling gangs believed responsible for nearly 140 such graves discovered around grim camps along the border with Thailand.

The dense forests of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia have been a major stop-off point for smugglers bringing people to Southeast Asia by boat from Myanmar, most of them Rohingya Muslims who say they are fleeing persecution, and Bangladesh.