Human traffickers exploiting Rohingyas and Bangladeshis are fleecing millions of ringgit from the thousands of people they traffic in.

Firstly, a refugee is charged about RM5,000 for a boat trip to escape from Myanmar, after which he or she is forced to pay another RM3,000 to RM8,000 to be released from the jungle camps at the Malaysia-Thailand border.

Then, they kill those who won't pay more, and harvest their body parts, which are then sold.

One eyewitness to those killed and their body parts sold is teenager Haron Rashid, who arrived in the Klang Valley from the Thai border killing fields in the Perlis and Golok jungles two months ago.

Haron, 14 ( photo ), said the human traffickers harvest the internal organs of those who died or are killed, even from the young women who are raped and killed.

Eventually, if a refugee cannot pay to leave the camp, he or she would be beaten, killed (raped if a woman) and the body cut up to harvest organs such the as eyes, kidneys, hearts, lungs, livers and other internal organs that can be sold.

“I saw the bodies cut apart in many places… In many cases, the chests were cut open.

“Outsiders, who were not seen in the camp before, come and cut up bodies and take out the internal organs, put them in black plastic bags and take them away immediately.

“It was disgusting sight. They openly cut up the bodies in the chest and stomach areas,” a very distraught Haron said.

“The human traffickers threatened to shoot me and my family. They also threatened to burn properties if we don't get on the boat for the money they charged.”

Relatives paid RM5,000 for his release

After he was moved from the Padang Besar camp to the Golok camp, Haron was then driven to the Klang Valley in a crowded van, through the East Coast.

Staying in the jungle camps for three months, Haron was beaten until his relatives raised about RM5,000 for him to be released.

Haron told me he would have been in one of the bodies recovered from the graves had his relatives had not paid the human traffickers.

“I was beaten up when I refused to carry the dead bodies and throw them into the graves. I have carried about 50 dead bodies, some body parts and buried them.

“They kicked children, beat up men and raped women,” Haron told Malaysiakini .

Haron left Sittwe, a port in the Arkan Province of Myanmar, about eight months ago. He arrived by boat at a port called Rannong in Thailand.

Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee (RARC) programme coordinator Mohamad Sadek, who arranged my interview with Haron, said: “Cutting up bodies and fleecing the stranded refugees for their organs is totally unacceptable.

“It is torturous, disgusting and inhumane by this large syndicate of traffickers. The Asean leadership should get to the bottom of this exploitation and arrest the human traffickers through coordinated efforts.”

Tenaganita director Aegile Fernandez first learnt of human body parts being harvested about two years ago, from Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants.

According to Aegile, the traffickers would point to a body and signal which organ should to be removed.

“We spoke to a few villagers living near the border with Thailand and obtained information on organ harvesting,” she said.