ALOR SETAR: The police are working with Interpol and Aseanapol to track down a syndicate believed to be linked to the recent boat tragedy involving migrants in waters off the Malaysia-Thailand border.
Kedah police chief Comm Datuk Adzli Abu Shah said initial information suggested the syndicate may have been operating in Malaysia and several neighbouring countries.
“The D3 Division under the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department is collaborating with Interpol and the Asean police.
“We will track down the syndicate and provide any details obtained... we will monitor the progress,” he told a press conference yesterday, Bernama reported.
He added that during interrogation, survivors claimed they assembled at five locations between Baitadung and Teknaf, near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, to board a vessel operated by the syndicate.
Comm Adzli said the syndicate’s modus operandi was to gather as many illegal immigrants as possible and load them onto a vessel at maximum capacity before setting sail.
“The vessel would anchor in a channel between the two countries and would only set sail at full capacity, in this case about 300 people. The journey usually takes around two weeks,” he said.
He said the victims also claimed that payments to the syndicate were only made by their family members upon their arrival in Malaysia.
According to Comm Adzli, police also found handwritten notes from the survivors, containing phone numbers believed to be linked to the syndicate’s agents.
Interrogation of the 14 survivors confirmed that all of them were migrants and not members or agents of the syndicate.
Comm Adzli said the survivors also claimed that five individuals, believed to be members of the syndicate, were operating the mothership they were aboard.
The victims also claimed that they were transferred to two smaller boats upon reaching waters near the Malaysia-Thailand border and continued their journey without the syndicate members, he said.
The incident, in which a boat carrying more than 70 illegal immigrants capsized off Langkawi, has so far claimed more than 28 lives, with 14 others found safe.
