Malaysia mass graves: police find 139 suspected sites

National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar revealed the findings at a press conference a day after the government announced the discovery of camps and graves, the first such sites found in Malaysia since a regional human-trafficking crisis erupted earlier this month.

"(Authorities) found 139 suspected graves. They are not sure how many bodies are inside each grave," Khalid said.

He added that the number and size of the 28 camps found suggested that they may have housed a combined hundreds of people.

The largest could hold up to 300 people, another had a capacity of 100, while the rest could hold about 20 each, he said.

The discovery is the latest evidence of the lethal nature of the region's human-trafficking trade.

Police in neighbouring Thailand in early May had found secret human-trafficking camps on their side of the border and dozens of shallow graves.

Malaysian officials had subsequently dismissed the suggestion that similar sites existed on Malaysian soil.

(AFP)