139 MIGRANT GRAVES DISCOVERED BY MALAYSIAN POLICE

Suspected migrant graves were found earlier this month in Thailand near the Malaysian border

About 139 suspected migrant grave sites have been discovered in 28 human-trafficking camps close to the Thai border in north Malaysia, police said.

Khalid Abu Bakar, National police chief said some of the graves which has been discovered since 11 May, may contain more than one body.

The graves are very close to where trafficking camps and dozens of shallow graves were found earlier across the Thai border.

Thailand subsequently cracked down on the routes traffickers used to move migrants through its territory.

The operation forced traffickers to move the migrants - who ultimately want to reach Malaysia - by sea instead. But thousands were left stranded at sea after the traffickers abandoned them and no country would take them in.

'Questions that will be asked'

"[In] the operation which we have been conducting from 11 May to 23 May we discovered 139 of what we believe are graves," Mr Khalid told reporters on Monday.

The grave sites are hundreds of metres from the graves discovered in Thailand, he said.

While speaking at a press conference a day after the government first announced the discovery of Malaysian graves, Mr Khalid said the biggest of the camps could have held up to 300 people.

"The first team of our officers has arrived in the area this morning to exhume the bodies," he said.

Officials are trying to determine whether the graves are of victims of human trafficking.

The graves are evidence of a human trafficking business where migrants are kept in jungle camps while ransom is demanded from family members. Many migrants are believed to have perished from disease or starvation.