INDONESIAN authorities have detected at least five boats packed with refugees approaching the shores of Aceh province, officials said today.

The boats are the latest in a surge of vessels that have arrived in Aceh, most carrying Rohingya refugees from southern Bangladesh, to which the persecuted Muslim minority fled in 2017 following attacks by the military in their homeland of Myanmar.

Indonesia has intensified patrols of its waters following a sharp rise in Rohingya refugees arriving since November, said Aceh’s air force base commander Colonel Yoyon Kuscahyono.