Malaysia doubles patrols to find Myanmar migrant boats after nearly 200 people detained

Malaysia’s coastguard said on Friday it was doubling patrols in its waters to locate boats carrying undocumented Myanmar migrants, after almost 200 were detained on an island in the northwestern Malaysian state of Kedah.

The coastguard said police had detained 196 undocumented Myanmar migrants in the early hours of Friday after their boat came ashore on a beach on the resort island of Langkawi.

“Based on information the coastguard received, there are two more boats carrying undocumented Myanmar migrants at sea but their exact location is still unknown,” the coastguard said in a statement.

Malaysian coastguard director general Mohd Rosli Abdullah said authorities were patrolling the northern waters off Langkawi and border areas, and had arranged for air surveillance to be conducted to locate the boats.

The coastguard is also in contact with Thai authorities to identify the movement of boats carrying the migrants, Mohd Rosli said.

Earlier on Friday, local English daily The Star reported about 200 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar had come ashore on Langkawi. The Rohingya are a mainly Muslim minority in majority Buddhist Myanmar.