KANGAR, June 4 — Beginning today, the police have embarked on the second phase of a grim task of exhuming bodies of human trafficking victims at the Lubuk Sireh transit camp.

The 180 police personnel comprise those from the General Operations Force (GOF), forensic and investigation teams.

They have been given five days to use a Thailand route for the exhumation of the bodies.

Perlis police chief SAC Shafie Ismail said the team left at 8.30am to enter the transit camp via two entries, namely Wang Kelian and the Padang Besar Immigration, Customs and Quarantine Complex (ICQ).

Nevertheless, he said the routes to bring down the bodies had not been finalised, whether over land or by helicopter.

“The Malaysian police have been given until June 8, to use the Thai route for the second phase of the operation, and work on exhuming the bodies should be completed before that date.

Some 91 graves have been identified in the second largest human trafficking camp found at the Mata Ayer forest reserve in Lubuk Sireh, located about 100 metres from the Thailand border.

The travelling time via the Ban Talok route in Thailand takes about an hour as the area is not as steep as the Wang Kelian path which takes more than two hours. — Bernama