KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 — The human trafficking camps found in Wang Kelian were destroyed to prevent the campsite from being used by migrants or traffickers, according to a news report.

In a report by the New Sunday Times, the Malaysian Royal Police (PDRM) corporate communications department said that the destruction of the camp was ordered by the then-Perlis Deputy Chief of Police.

"The camp was destroyed out of the order of Deputy Chief of Perlis Police (Deputy CPO) as a preventive measure to avoid other migrants from entering or re-entering the area and to use it as their base.

"It was not necessary for us to preserve the area/ not to destroy the camp because the assessment of the case then was of immigration offences. The main intent of the camp was not for it to be used as the base for the migrants,’’ the police said.

The migrant trafficking camps were found in Wang Kelian in May 2015, with the same reports of illegal migrant camps from across the Thai border.

The campsite was eventually declared as an operational area, with the suspected graves marked and the area combed by the General Operations Force for booby traps before forensic and investigations team were allowed, the police added.

Since the discovery of the camps, the police have charged and convicted four people under the Anti-trafficking in persons and anti-smuggling of migrants act of 2007 with the police still in the lookout for 10 people believed to be Thai nationals and one Bangladeshi.