Human trafficking may have taken place in Thailand on a far greater scale than previously suspected, with dozens of mass graves containing the bodies of victims lying undiscovered throughout the country’s south, according to testimony gathered by a Bangkok-based human rights group.

The claim comes after Thai authorities uncovered two graves apparently containing the remains of Rohingya “boat people” brought to remote parts of the country from Burma by transnational criminal syndicates. The discovery of 26 corpses at a mass burial site in Songkhla province on 1 May was followed days later by the finding of two skeletons in a second southern province, Phang Nga. More corpses have since been found close to the original site.

But interviews with survivors, brokers and police officials, carried out by the NGO Fortify Rights for a report on Rohingya trafficking, suggest these grim finds may only scratch the surface of a much larger problem in which the Thai government is allegedly complicit.



Survivors spoke of regular killings at camps, common graves and torture at the hands of gang members trying to extort money from their families.

The Rohingya, a long-persecuted ethnic minority, have been leaving Burma in large numbers since an outbreak of violence in 2012 left neighbourhoods razed and claimed hundreds of lives. More than 100,000 people fled Rakhine state. Many of those who escaped fell into the hands of trafficking gangs that operate within the Bay of Bengal.

Stripped of citizenship by Burma’s military government in 1982, the Rohingya have been subject to strict controls governing their freedom of movement, education and right to work. About 140,000 Rohingya now reside in squalid camps for internally displaced people, unable to leave and policed by local security forces that have been accused of a range of abuses.

The interviews carried out by Fortify Rights highlight a life of similar misery beyond Burma. One survivorspoke of hundreds of deaths which she alleges occurred during a two-month spell in a large camp in an unidentified mountainous area near the Thai border with Malaysia.

“We saw many people die,” she said. “When they died, they put them in a common grave … Sometimes five and sometimes six died at a time.

“There were almost 2,000 people there.”



In another statement, a 17-year-old Rohingya man who said he was held at a site on the Thai coast, close to the border with Malaysia, said he knew of seven people who died in the camp.

“Two people died just beside me,” he said. “They had pain in their chests and then died. We washed the dead bodies, and after that we wrapped on the bodies a little bit of white cloth that we could find and then buried the bodies, two in the same grave. It was difficult to dig because there were rocks. So we just dug a little bit and covered the bodies.”

He was unable to identify the location of this grave, as he had been blindfolded when brought to the camp.

At another site, a Rohingya woman described a mountain location containing three camps, two of which had been abandoned. She described the brutal techniques deployed by traffickers against their human cargo, intended to induce panic and fear among the victim’s relatives so that they would pay large sums for their release.



“We called our relatives and they would beat us and tell us to ask for money. They had pliers and pulled on our ears and breasts. They pulled on the men’s penises. If any babies cried, they would take the baby and the woman aside, hold the woman’s breasts and force the baby to eat,” she said.



In another case, a 20-year-old Rohingya man, who was held for five months, described the conditions inside the camp, and the practice of dumping the dead or dying in isolated locations where no one would find them.



“There were two camps like this, with 150 in each camp. We had to sleep on top of each other. Some people became sick in the camps after we were there a long time … Some were so sick but were still alive, but they were thrown into the mountain area.



“When people died, the guards forced the people to throw the bodies in the mountain area. I saw others do this. It was a big mountain and very high, so the people brought the bodies up the mountain and left them there.”



Matthew Smith, the executive director of Fortify Rights, said the accounts were indicative of “a widespread pattern of death, torture, and exploitation, in many cases involving the complicity of Thai authorities”.

“The scale of this problem is enormous, and that wouldn’t be news to Thai officials,” said Smith.



“The loss of life has been enormous. To say there are dozens of mass graves wouldn’t scratch the surface. We’re not in a position to assess specifically how many mass graves exist, but we have reason to believe it’s far greater than any current estimates. There needs to be a proper international investigation involving forensic teams.”

The Thai government has been trying to improve its record on human trafficking, which after a recent parliamentary vote is now subject to the death penalty when victims die. Following the discovery of the grave sites, the Thai police have pledged to investigate the alleged involvement of local officials in trafficking activities, while Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has publicly ordered authorities across Thailand to “to scan every inch of their areas” for more camps.



Human rights groups have expressed scepticism about these moves, however.

Phil Robertson, deputy director for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said: “Denials that the government didn’t know what was going on are simply not credible. The Thai authorities have known about these camps for years, and in fact, senior government representatives admitted that to Human Rights Watch several years ago. It’s an understatement to say that in national government circles there has been a bit of a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy about these camps and what goes on in them.

“Local officials in the areas where these camps operate, and on transit routes taken to send Rohingya to the camps, have been directly involved and profited by serving as local look-outs and protectors for the camps.”



Smith was similarly critical of officialdom. “Thai authorities have been fully aware of the existence of these camps, and they’ve known very well what goes on there,” he said.



“We have testimony that places Thai officials in trafficking camps negotiating with traffickers while hundreds of people are held captive. Torture, killings, deprivations, and other abuses have all occurred with impunity. We’ve documented how Thai authorities have ‘rescued’ Rohingya asylum seekers and then sold or handed them to trafficking syndicates, who in turn tortured them.”



Heightening deprivations in Burma are driving more people into the hands of the traffickers, said a Rohingya community leaderin Rakhine, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Every single thing is under the control of the authorities,” he said. “The boat drivers, the brokers … always have to negotiate with authorities. Without bribing the security forces [military or police], it is not easy to leave. But people are handed over again to the traffickers in Thailand or [near the] Malaysia border. From there, they will be released by paying around 30 lakhs kyats [about £2,000]. People who cant afford to pay are sold out or killed.”