KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — The police have detained two Myanmar men to facilitate investigations into the discovery of mass graves believed to contain remains of human trafficking victims at Wang Kelian, Perlis last year.
Head of the special team probing the case, Datuk Goh Kok Liang said the suspects, in their 30s were found to be linked to the case while being detained at Immigration Detention Depot in Tanah Merah Kelantan.
Goh, who is also Perak CID chief, said he could not furnish the details of the arrest and the duo’s remand duration except to say that they were believed to have been the ‘sentries’ at the grave in Wang Kelian.
“They were singled out by human trafficking victims during an identification parade. We are in the process of recording statements from the two suspects,” he told Bernama.
Goh said six more suspects, believed to be Myanmars and Thais were expected to be remanded as soon as the police were able to locate their whereabouts.
He said the police were in the process of getting warrants of arrest for the five men and a woman.
They were identified last November. However, the police could not detain them because of technical procedures, he added.
Denying the six were masterminds of human trafficking syndicates, Goh said they were merely low-ranking members and believed to be food suppliers or sentries.
Last May, the police stumbled on graves with 106 skeletal remains, believed to be those of Rohingyas, and 28 human trafficking camps.
The 139 graves, some of them empty, were atop a hill, hundreds of metres above sea level.
Following the case, Thai police last month charged 88 people, including a general, with human trafficking. — Bernama
