Malaysian Home Minister Zahid Hamidi said Sunday that mass graves near 17 tents believed to have been used to accommodate refugees had been found in Padang Besar, a border town located in the northern part Perlis state in Malaysia, according to Bernama, Malaysia's state news agency.

He said that the General Operations Force (GOF) and the VAT 69 Commando unit had found 14 large tents and three other smaller tents located on the Malaysia-Thailand border.

Zahid said that the tents were believed to have been operational for at least five years and were believed to have been abandoned when the authorities came to the location, adding that the graves were identified as those for the refugees in the human trafficking trade.

He said that Malaysia is carrying out the investigation with the cooperation of Thailand.