5 more boats packed with refugees approach Indonesia’s shores, air force says

Indonesian authorities detected at least five boats packed tight with refugees approaching shores of Aceh province, officials said Thursday. The boats are the latest in a surge of vessels that have arrived in Aceh, most carrying Rohingya refugees from southern Bangladesh, where the persecuted Muslim minority fled in 2017 following attacks by the military in their homeland of Myanmar. Indonesia intensified patrols of its waters after a sharp rise in Rohingya refugees arriving since November, said Aceh’s Air Force Base Commander Col. Yoyon Kuscahyono.