Traffickers dump over 1,000 illegal immigrants on Langkawi shore

At least 1,000 illegal immigrants were dumped on the shore of Langkawi after being held captive in the Thai jungle for weeks, reported The Star Online.<p>Langkawi Police chief Harrith Kam Abdullah said police found 1,051 illegal immigrants yesterday.  They were 463 Rohingyas – 103 of them women and 61 children as young as three years old – and 588 Bangladeshis.</p><p>He said police believed they departed from Rakhine state in Myanmar and Bangladesh through their local syndicate. They then sailed through to Thailand en route to Malaysia.</p><p>“They were in Thailand for some time before they were sent into Malaysian waters off Langkawi,” he said. No arrest has been made yet.</p><p>They were brought there by fishing vessels and abandoned on the resort island, about an hour’s ferry ride from Satun in south Thailand.</p><p>This is believed to be the biggest landing of illegal immigrants in Malaysia and likely to have been triggered by the Thai government’s crackdown on human trafficking rings and migrant camps on the hills at the Malaysia-Thailand border.</p><p>Another 1,000-odd immigrants were also left in Acheh, Indonesia.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

Traffickers dump over 1,000 illegal immigrants on Langkawi shore

At least 1,000 illegal immigrants were dumped on the shore of Langkawi after being held captive in the Thai jungle for weeks, reported Th...

Read more »