KUALA LUMPUR: Four Thai citizens were extradited to Malaysia on Thursday, where they will face trial in connection with mass graves tied to human trafficking, according to Malaysia’s home minister.
In 2015, nearly a hundred bodies were discovered buried deep in a Malaysian jungle near the Thai border, sparking an investigation into human smuggling in the Southeast Asian country. The region has traditionally served as a point of entry for persecuted Rohingya Muslims fleeing chaos in Myanmar and economic migrants from Bangladesh.
Smugglers have already moved tens of thousands of Rohingya across land and sea to Malaysia, a comparatively affluent and secure Muslim-majority country. Malaysia, according to Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution, asked Thailand in 2017 to extradite 10 of its people suspected of being involved in the case.
According to Saifuddin, four out of 10 people have been successfully tracked down as a result of the two countries’ good cooperation. He said that in March of this year, a Thai court issued an arrest warrant for the four suspects to be handed over to Malaysia before they were extradited on Thursday.
The four unidentified people will appear in court in Malaysia’s northern Perlis state on Friday to face various charges. According to a 2019 report by Malaysian human rights commissioners and a rights group, from 2012 to 2015, a human smuggling syndicate operated in the area. Migrants were allegedly confined in terrible jungle camps where they were subjected to physical assault and were frequently refused basic food and water.
