The Malaysian Coast Guard today announced that it has doubled the number of patrols in the country’s waters to locate boats carrying undocumented Myanmar migrants, according to Reuters.
Previously, Malaysian police arrested 196 undocumented Myanmar migrants early this morning, January 3, after their boat landed on a beach on the resort island of Langkawi in Malaysia’s Kedah state, according to Reuters.
“Based on information received by the coast guard, there are two more boats carrying undocumented Myanmar migrants at sea but their exact location is still unknown,” the Malaysian Coast Guard said in a statement. Notification.
Malaysia Coast Guard chief Mohd Rosli Abdullah added that officials are patrolling the northern waters off Langkawi and border areas, and have arranged to conduct aerial surveillance to determine the location of the survivors. the above boat.
The Malaysian Coast Guard is also contacting Thai authorities to determine the direction of movement of boats carrying Myanmar migrants, according to Mr. Mohd Rosli.
Earlier the same day, newspaper The Star Malaysia announced that about 200 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar had landed in Langkawi. The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim minority in Myanmar.
The Malaysian Coast Guard did not specify whether the detained migrants were Rohingya or not.
About 1 million Rohingya have fled, mainly to neighboring Bangladesh, to avoid Myanmar’s military offensive launched in August 2017, a campaign that United Nations investigators described as a A typical example of ethnic cleansing, according to Reuters. Myanmar’s military government has denied the allegations.
Malaysia has long been a favorite destination for Rohingya fleeing Myanmar or refugee camps in Bangladesh.
However, in recent years, Malaysia has refused to accept boats carrying Rohingya refugees and rounded up thousands of people in crowded detention centers as part of a campaign against illegal migrants. have documents.
From 2010-2024, Malaysian authorities arrested 2,089 undocumented Myanmar migrants trying to enter the country by sea, according to the Malaysian Coast Guard.