Langkawi Archipelago: A Tourist Paradise Turned Smuggling Haven

Langkawi, an archipelago comprising one main island and around 98 others filled with secluded coves and mangrove-fringed coastlines, has been a tourist magnet for years. But that same seductive geography also makes it a haven for smugglers. “The sea has become an alternative route for criminals to smuggle illegal migrants, contraband and other items that violate Malaysian law,” First Admiral Romli Mustafa told This Week in Asia aboard the KM Tenggol, one of a number of coastguard vessels patrolling these waters. Romli heads maritime enforcement for Kedah and Perlis, the two states whose coastlines bear the brunt of maritime smuggling in northern Malaysia. “The biggest challenge is fast boats moving in the dark,” he said. “Without any information, the chances of us intercepting them are very slim.” Officials from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), the Southeast Asian nation’s coastguard, have intercepted methamphetamine and cannabis moving south from Thailand into Malaysia. Kratom and illegal vapes have been detected heading north in the opposite direction, while subsidised Malaysian petrol, up to 2 ringgit (50 US cents) per litre cheaper than across the border, is loaded onto small vessels in large volumes.