The kingdom’s deputy police chief, Surachate Hakparn, said some suspects died while serving jail terms in Thailand. He did not state the exact number.

“There are one or two more who will complete their jail terms and be extradited to Malaysia,” he said, according to Bernama.

Surachate said Malaysia applied to extradite 10 Thai nationals in 2017. Four of them were extradited on Thursday and charged in the Kangar sessions court today with human trafficking of two Myanmar nationals.

The four Thais did not make any plea after the charges were read out to them.

The case centres on the discovery of 139 graves in 28 temporary camps run by a human trafficking syndicate in the jungle near the Thai-Malaysian border in Wang Kelian, Perlis.

Similar graves were also found near the border in Thailand. The victims were said to have come from Myanmar and Bangladesh in search of jobs.