Search for boats with fleeing Rohingya

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities were yesterday on the lookout for boats believed to be carrying up to 200 Rohingya after dozens of migrants were found near a beach in the country’s north.

Forty-one Rohingya men and boys, aged between 14 and 30, were detained yesterday near Simpang Empat after landing at Sungai Belati beach, police said.

The boat was carrying 47 Rohingya, all of whom paid a Thai trafficker to take them to Malaysia.

Thousands of Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh in 2017 fleeing an army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.