Border checkpoint upgrade to fight drug smuggling, says DG
KUCHING: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department is working with its Indonesian counterparts to upgrade existing border facilities in the state to address cross-border drug smuggling.
Its director-general Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy said the department is aware of growing concerns of the smuggling of drugs and commodities taking place at border points between Sarawak and Indonesia as well as Brunei.
“I don’t deny that we have had many cases of drug smuggling, but a collaboration with Indonesian is already underway to upgrade the security of facilities at check points.
“A lot of the issues stem from having older or inadequate facilities, and one of our goals is to implement body scanners,” he said at a press conference here yesterday on the Sales and Services Tax roll-out on Sept 1.
He added a meeting has been scheduled with Indonesian Customs next week regarding the upgrading of facilities and that once upgraded, the department would be able to control the situation.
Subromaniam disclosed that the department has also just received 16 drug sniffer dogs from the Netherlands and will be deploying
I don’t deny that we have had many cases of drug smuggling, but a collaboration with Indonesian is already underway to upgrade the security of facilities at check points.
a few of the canines to Sarawak to deal with the issue.
On Aug 19, Indonesia National Narcotics Agency ( BNN) nabbed three members of an international drug network operating between Sarawak and Indonesia.
According to Indonesian news outlets, the trio were arrested while travelling along Jalan Trans Kalimantan with 10kg of Syabu, believed to have been smuggled from Kuching through Entikong in Sanggau district which has lower levels of security.
Apart from drugs, news reports concerning the smuggling of commodities such as cooking oil, rice and cigarettes along the Sarawak-West Kalimantan border are fairly common, along with reports of security personnel foiling attempts to take out stolen vehicles and motorcycles from Sarawak across the border.
Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy, Royal Malaysian Customs Department director-general