Indonesia and Malaysia Team Up Against Trafficking

Indonesia and Malaysia are uniting to end drug trafficking in Southeast Asia after holding talks on the region's growing problem. An agreement was signed yesterday to increase cooperation and intensify border patrol in an effort to combat the frequent drug trades that occur between the two countries, which have a combined population of around 370 million. “Indonesia has thousands of entry ways, be it legal ports or illegal, in the north, west, south and east. They are open for illegal culprits to enter Indonesia," says Indonesian National Police chief Comr. Gen. Sutarman. The bilateral talks mainly focused on strategic, tactical and operational aspects of drug-smuggling eradication. The nations plan to conduct joint operations, and to increase e-mails and calls between staffers on either side. The majority of the drugs to pass between the two countries, many of which are manufactured in the Netherlands, are shipped from Malaysia to Indonesia—so Indonesian officials have asked Malaysian authorities to step it up on this issue. In recent months, the Malaysian police narcotics team found 500,000 ecstasy pills of a new type known as "Yaba" waiting to be shipped to Indonesia, as well as as 25 kilograms of amphetamine to be shipped by sea.