the camp had been occupied recently.
The border zone with Malaysia is criss-crossed by trafficking trails and is notorious for its network of secret camps where smuggled migrants are held, usually against their will, until relatives pay up hefty ransoms.
Rights groups say the camp, which is a steep, slippery 40-minute hike from the nearest road, is likely to be just one of dozens in the area as the rewards of trafficking continue to outweigh the risks of being caught.
Tens of thousands of migrants from Myanmar, mainly from the Rohingya Muslim minority but also increasingly from Bangladesh, make the dangerous sea crossing to southern Thailand, a well-worn trafficking route often on the way south to Malaysia and beyond.
The exodus of Rohingya — described by the UN as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities — has followed deadly communal unrest in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state since 2012.
Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh have also been kidnapped and trafficked to Thailand, after being duped with fake job offers or even drugged.
Thailand says it is cracking down on the trafficking networks on its soil after revelations that government officers, police and navy officials have been involved in the lucrative trade in humans fleeing poverty and persecution.
“We will go after the people responsible for the grave site no matter how powerful they may be,” General Aek Angsananont, national police deputy commissioner, told reporters in Padang Besar.
“We care about our image, when people say we’re not doing anything about it, it’s not true. It’s a national agenda.”
In June the United States dumped Thailand to the bottom, or “Tier 3”, of its list of countries accused of failing to tackle modern-day slavery.
Last week UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the condition of such camps as “untenable”, adding that their existence should “remain a matter of profound concern for the international community”.
Activists say traffickers are changing their tactics as the crackdown bites and are also holding thousands of migrants at sea for endless weeks awaiting payment before releasing them.
Thailand’s human trafficking problem is “out of control”, according to Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.