Lahad Datu

Lahad Datu is the capital of the Lahad Datu District in the Dent Peninsula on the Tawau Division of Sabah, Malaysia. The town is surrounded by stretches of cocoa and palm oil plantations and is an important timber exporting port, with an airport for domestic flights. A settlement is believed to have existed there in the 15th century, since excavations have unearthed Ming dynasty Chinese ceramics, and a Jawi manuscript from 1408 suggests it was the first site in northern Borneo where Islam was introduced. It was the scene of an armed landing by foreign pirates in 1985 and of a standoff of over a month with Filipino-based militants in 2013.