A senior Thai army officer has turned himself in over his alleged involvement in the south-east Asia human trafficking disaster, marking the first arrest of a military official since the investigation started in May.

Lieutenant General Manas Kongpaen, a senior adviser to the Thai army, is facing multiple charges including human trafficking, detention and ransom.

More than 50 people, including several local politicians and officials, were arrested after the discovery of dozens of bodies believed to be those of Burmese Rohingya migrants at the abandoned trafficking camps near the Thai-Malaysian border.

National police chief General Somyot Poompanmoung said on Wednesday that Manas denied the charges.

Before Manas’s arrest warrant was issued this week the army chief had denied the military’s involvement in the trafficking syndicates.