LANGKAWI, June 28 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Hundreds of Rohingya refugees who entered the country’s waters in June are believed to have used the aircraft navigation lights on Gunung Mat Cincang here, as a guide to land on Langkawi Island.
Langkawi Region One Marine Police Force commanding officer DSP Rohizan Mohamad Said said the navigation lights helped the illegal immigrants find land as they entered the country’s waters at night as the sea would have been dark at the time.
The boat skippers (tekong) who brought in the undocumented immigrants would have looked for the navigation lights before making their landings on the coast.
“The navigation lights at the top of the mountain is very important because it shows pilots that the area is mountainous,” he told Bernama during an exclusive media coverage with the National Task Force.
The lights are also point to pilots the cable cars in the area to prevent any untoward incidents, he said.
Rohizan said the navigation lights would bring illegal immigrants to Teluk Nibong, near a five-star hotel located off the coast.
Commenting on the discovery of the illegal immigrants, Rohizan said this was the second time they had landed in the same bay as the area was near to the navigation lights.
“I understand that the illegal immigrants have been at sea for four months and the marine police received preliminary information from fishermen who spotted a suspicious looking foreign ship entering the country’s waters.
“Upon receiving the information, marine police tracked a boat found 500 yards from the bay and found some of the illegals jumping overboard into the sea along with the skipper and swimming towards the mainland,” he said.
On June 8, Bernama reported that 269 Rohingyas trying to enter Langkawi’s waters were arrested by the authorities who also found the body of a woman on board the boat ferrying the illegal immigrants.
— NNN-BERNAMA