LANGKAWI, June 28 — Hundreds of Rohingya refugees who entered the country’s waters in June are believed to use 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 illegal immigrants find land when they entered the country’s waters at night as the situation at sea is very dark at the time.

"Therefore, boat skippers (tekong) who bring in undocumented immigrants will be looking for the navigation lights before making 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, besides having cable cars, thus avoiding any untoward incidents,” he told Bernama in an exclusive media coverage with the National Task Force.

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. — Bernama