27 Rohingyas feared drowned found alive, said to have entered the country illegally - MMEA

The 27 Rohingya refugees feared drowned in the sea off the island yesterday have actually entered the country illegally, said Kedah and Perlis Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director First Admiral (Maritime) Mohd Zawawi Abdullah.

He said the 13 men, nine women and five children (four boys and one girl) were found hiding in Pulau Rebak Besar near here at 6.15 pm yesterday.

They were found by the search and rescue team during Operation CARILAMAT after authorities initially received a report from a Rohingya 'survivor' claiming that 24 of his compatriots might have drowned after they all allegedly jumped off a boat near the island at 8 pm on Saturday.

This is believed to be the group's latest modus operandi in trying to enter the country illegally. Previously, they would purposely cause a leak on their boats or damage the engine once they were near the island.

"The search and rescue operation team failed to find any clues or victims. It then received a complaint from a local fisherman who found a Rohingya man on Pulau Rebak Besar. An MMEA boat was then dispatched to the location.

"The migrant was taken to the Kedah and Perlis Malaysian Maritime Jetty in Bukit Malut for interrogation and he revealed that there were 26 more migrants still hiding on the island.

"As a result, the MMEA boat and the Gagah maritime vessel, together with the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), conducted a search and found the 26 migrants, who are aged between five and 45," Mohd Zawawi said at a press conference at the Kedah and Perlis State Maritime Headquarters, Bukit Malut, today.

Commenting further, he said all 27 migrants, including the complainant, were taken to the Kedah and Perlis Malaysian Maritime Jetty in Bukit Malut for further investigations and for preliminary COVID-19 screening before they are handed over to the Immigration Department.

"We are still investigating how long they've been on the island and how they managed to trespass into the country's waters. We also found that the Rohingya man nabbed had links to the two skippers (tekong darat or dallal) who were arrested in an operation involving five agencies on July 21.