Malaysia finds more graves and human remains near Thai border

The new graves were found on Saturday near the peak of a hill surrounded by jungle terrain and along the Thai border, not too far from the graves unearthed in May, Perlis police chief Shafie Ismail was quoted as saying by Bernama, the country’s official news agency.

“It is believed that heavy rain had eroded the graves,” he said.

After May’s unearthing, the remains of 106 people were exhumed, mostly believed to be Muslim Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar, as well as Bangladeshis seeking better opportunities abroad.

Mass graves were also discovered on the Thai side of the border.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority from Myanmar, have for years sought to escape what they say is worsening persecution by the country’s Buddhist majority.

Fleeing abroad by the thousands each year, they typically  put their lives in the hands of often brutal smugglers and traffickers who arrange a perilous passage by sea and land, usually destined for Muslim-majority Malaysia.