LANGKAWI: The boat that ferried 196 Rohingya detained on Langkawi island on Friday is believed to have departed from Myanmar some 10 days ago, with the coast guard activating its ships and air wing to search for two other boats.
Langkawi police chief Assistant Commissioner Shariman Ashari said the detained migrants comprised 68 men, 57 women, 32 boys and 39 girls.
However, Shariman did not immediately respond to a question about whether the boat's skipper was among the migrants rounded up at the location.
"All the detainees are believed to be of Rohingya ethnicity, and they are said to have departed from Myanmar in a boat about 10 days ago," he said in a statement.
Most refugees fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017, and thousands have attempted to start a new life in more affluent Asian nations, even if it meant embarking on risky voyages in overcrowded, rickety boats.
Malaysia has long been a favoured destination for the Rohingya, as it is Muslim-majority and already home to a large community.
In his statement, Shariman said 31 officers and policemen from the district police headquarters, Ayer Hangat police station and the General Operation Force were immediately deployed to Pantai Teluk Yu upon receiving a call on the sighting of migrants at about 3.25am.
"At the same time, the Marine police have been mobilised to beef up patrols and to look out for possible more boats trying to reach in," he said.
He added that all the migrants have been referred to the Immigration Department and were taken to the Home Ministry's Complex in Langkawi for the documentation process.
"Health screening has also been carried out on them by the Langkawi Health Office," he said, thanking the public for swift action to alert the police to the migrants' arrival.
Meanwhile, audio recordings purportedly by a local fisherman claiming to spot two boats allegedly ferrying Rohingya refugees have been circulated on a WhatsApp application.
The man claimed that the boats were spotted near Pantai Chenang waters and the enforcement agencies were approaching them.
However, when contacted, a source with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) declined to comment pending official confirmation, as the search for two more boats is still ongoing.
Earlier today, it was reported that police detained 196 Rohingya migrants after their boat ran aground in Pantai Teluk Yu in the wee hours.
Following the arrest, MMEA activated a search operation and intensified patrols to locate remaining migrants from Myanmar reportedly heading to Langkawi.
Its director-general Maritime Admiral Datuk Mohd Rosli Abdullah was reported as saying information received by the MMEA indicated that two additional boats believed to be carrying illegal immigrants from Myanmar were still at sea.
The agency has deployed boats and ships to the landing site, conducted patrols around the northern waters of Langkawi and the country's borders, and mobilised aircraft for aerial surveillance, as well as stepped up radar monitoring through the Sea Surveillance System (SWASLA) to detect the boats.
Between 2010 and last year, MMEA and other enforcement agencies detained 2,089 migrants from Myanmar, who attempted to enter the country in 18 boats.
Rohingya refugees usually start their journey from either Myanmar or Bangladesh, where around one million of them live in squalid refugee camps.
Up to the end of November last year, there were some 192,170 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the United Nations in Malaysia, with some 170,360 being from Myanmar.