Operation To Exhume 91 Graves In Mata Ayer Starts Thursday

KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 (Bernama) -- The second phase of the operation to exhume the remains in 91 graves at the Mata Ayer Forest Reserve in Lubuk Sireh, Perlis will continue Thursday after it was halted for two days due to lack of supplies. Perlis police chief SAC Shafie Ismail said the operation in the area located about 100 metres from the Thai border involved more than 90 policemen. The operation involved the Ban Talok route after the Thai authorities gave permission for Malaysia use it to bring down the remains. Meanwhile, a local media representative at the Ban Talok route was Wednesday informed by a General Operation Force personnel that the digging operation was expected to be completed before June 8. However, members of the media were not allowed into the area, from the Thai border mark in Ban Talok to the foothill of Wan Kelian, as it is a prohibited area for security reason. So far, 35 bodies believed to be victims of human trafficking had been exhumed from the graves discovered in Bukit Wang Burma, Wang Kelian, Perlis. The bodies were then sent to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar, Malaysia's northern state of Kedah for pathological examination. They were among the human skeletons exhumed from 139 graves found by the authorities in 28 transit camps set up by human trafficking syndicates along the Perlis-Thailand border. -- BERNAMA