PETALING JAYA, May 27 — Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar today said police do not expect to uncover additional mass graves of human trafficking victims in Malaysia, after the discovery of nearly 140 this month,

He said his force has carried out a comprehensive screening and combing of the entire length of the wall along the Malaysia-Thailand border and did not detect any trace of similar activity.

The discovery in Padang Besar of over a hundred mass graves and nearly 30 people smuggling camps came after repeated denials of their existence by government officials.

“We are confident there are no other graves,” he said at a news conference here.

Over the weekend, security forces discovered mass graves near some 17 tents set up in a remote location in Padang Besar, believed to have been used by human traffickers as a transit point to hold migrants.

The find comes at a time when Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are struggling to deal with up to 20,000 mostly ethnic Rohingya migrants left adrift on boats in Southeast Asia’s seas, in what the United Nations described as a humanitarian crisis.

Khalid said today that Malaysian police are looking to work with their Thai counterparts to access the mass graves from the other side of the border, as the rough terrain and inclement weather has severely hampered access from the Malaysian side.

He said the Malaysian forensics team has so far only managed to exhume one body from the mass graves as of yesterday, as the regular rainfall has made the site nearly inaccessible from the Malaysian side of the border.

Despite the challenges, Khalid said they will continue to do what they can, including collecting DNA samples where possible from the bodies recovered from the site.

“We will collect DNA samples where we can and for the time being store it until we find some means to compare it with relatives or anyone who might come forward looking for their kin,” he said.

Asked if police have made any recent arrests in relation to the discovery of the mass graves, Khalid said suspects believed to have links to the case were identified among the 37 people detained earlier this year on suspicion of being involved in human trafficking.

He added that the police are looking at all possibilities, including the potential involvement of police officers and other Malaysian enforcement officials in the case, but declined to elaborate.

Khalid, meanwhile, said the police have yet to receive any news of migrants making their way to Malaysia to take up the offer of temporary shelter.

“There has been no news from our marine (police) or APMM (Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency) on the boat people, but we are ready to receive them and carry out their documentation and place them temporarily,” he said.

Last week, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to provide humanitarian assistance to the thousands migrants still adrift at sea, including offering temporary shelter, provided that the international community takes steps to repatriate them within a year.