Today (May 5) Phang Nga Governor Prayoon Rattanasaenee, city officials and police investigated the area of the abandoned Rohingya camp in Koh Toh Kra in Takuapa District.
The investigation came after police questioned a 13-year-old Rohinya boy arrested for illegal entry in September last year and were told that he came with a group of Rohinya from Myanmar.
The boy said they were beaten up by Thai brokers and about 10 had died and their bodies buried at Koh Toh Kra.
In the search of three locations on the island jointly conducted by local district officials and workers of Sawang Meka Takua Pa foundation, they found a grave.
After digging into the sand grave for 20-minutes, a skeleton of a female was discovered.
The skeleton was believed to be that of a woman about 1.5 metres tall, who was buried according to Muslim tradition. Officials believe she was most likely a Rohingya, possibly taken to the area to be trafficked.
They also think she may have been pregnant at the time of her death. However if she would be a Rohinya or not, it needed DNA test.
Four other graves were also discovered nearby, but due to heavy rain, authorities had to suspend the search until Wednesday (May 6).
But authorities said there are strong indications that they also contain the remains of Rohinya migrants that were smuggled into the country.
Authorities believe that this location was used as a collection and resting point for Rohinya migrants that were brought in boats by human traffickers several months ago.
As to whether there was any connection to the graves that were discovered in Padang Besar, they could not say with any certainty as a thorough investigation will have to be made.
Phang Nga police chief Pol. Maj. Gen. Chalit Keawyarat, said “We believe that this location had been used in the past as a collection point. As to whether Rohinya migrants were moved from here to Padang Besar or not, that has yet to be determined. As far as we can tell, this gravesite was probably dug in September of last year.”
Beside the discovery on Koh Toh Kra Island, a human remain also believed to be Rohinya migrant was also discovered tethered to mangrove trees on Koh Nok Island.
Koh Nok Island is situated around 3 kilometres off Koh Toh Kra and authorities suspect that the corpse was tortured there and finally left to die.
Phang-nga governor Prayoon Rattanaseni, meanwhile, admitted that in the past authorities had several run-ins with human trafficking operations that were ferrying in Rohinya migrants employing large vessels.
They were then transferred into smaller boats and brought to collection points on the number of small islands spread out around Phang Nga.
But due to the wide inaccessible territory, apprehending them proved difficult. What authorities were only able to accomplish was to make arrests on 5 occasions when the migrants were being transported on the mainland. More than 300 suspects were managed to be arrested.
“Last September we arrested 27 suspects and then in October we apprehended another 53 suspects. In November we again managed to arrest a further 81 suspects. Twenty three of those questioned finally admitted that they were involved with human trafficking operations,” he said.
The recent discoveries in Koh Toh Kra and Koh Nok islands in Phang-nga province indicate strongly that human traffickers were using the southern provinces to transport Rohinya migrants from Myanmar into Thailand. Authorities must now coordinate their efforts in order to effectively prevent further human trafficking into the country.
Additional reporting ThaiPBS.