PUTRAJAYA – Culprits behind the human trafficking activities along the country’s northern borders will be prosecuted after Thailand agreed to extradite them to face charges.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the Thai government had agreed to surrender the 10 people identified by Malaysia in the trafficking of Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals, whose remains were found in mass graves on both sides of the border last year.
Thailand’s decision to allow the extradition was conveyed to Malaysia when Thai Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan called on Dr Ahmad Zahid yesterday.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said the international community had accused Malaysia of not taking action against those involved when the mass graves of human trafficking victims were discovered in Wang Kelian last year.
“The extradition will allow us to take the culprits to court. We don’t want the international community to have this notion that Malaysia not only condones but also partakes in trafficking. We certainly don’t tolerate such heinous crime against fellow human beings,” he said.
During the Ops Wawasan Khas in May last year, police found 139 graves around 28 transit camps abandoned by human trafficking syndicates in Wang Burma hill and Wang Perah hill here.
Some of the 10 Thai suspects in this case have already been detained while others remained at large, said Dr Ahmad Zahid, adding that they were expected to be handed over to Malaysia soon once documentation and other processes were completed.
He said that both Malaysia and Thailand had also agreed to look into the issue of dual citizenship held by those residing in border towns, causing security concerns to the Thai authorities.
“I have assured General Prawit that Malaysia will work closely with Thailand to resolve this. Their authorities will identify these people and supply Malaysia with biometric thumbprints so that we can cross check to determine who among them also has our citizenship.
“Then we will act accordingly because both Malaysia and Thailand allow its people to hold only one citizenship,” he said.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said that he and General Prawit also discussed terror and extremist activities in both countries and that Malaysia wanted to share its deradicalisation programme with Thailand.
While both governments had established that terror groups in southern Thailand, southern Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia shared an ideological link, he said further investigations need to be done to determine whether these groups worked closely with each other to smuggle arms and people.
