JAKARTA - Indonesian police in Borneo today said they would hold talks with their Malaysian counterparts on the island to try to combat the growing number of baby-smuggling cases.

Police from Indonesia's West Kalimantan province and Sarawak are to hold a regular twice-yearly meeting June 28-30 in the Sarawak state capital Kuching.

The meeting will focus on the "pressing issue of baby smuggling cases," said West Kalimantan provincial police spokesman Commissioner Suhadi Suwondo.

He said three Indonesian women late last year were deceived by Malaysian baby traders with promises of good jobs but were later impregnated and forced to sell their infants in Sarawak.

Suwondo had no information on why babies were being smuggled into Sarawak but said there were also cases back in 1994.

That year at least 12 babies were smuggled into Sarawak along rivers or across the border, he said.

"This problem could cease if Indonesian immigration officials enforce stricter measures in the issuance of passports," Suwondo added.

"We believe that we and the Sarawak police department can work together in solving this issue," he told AFP from the provincial capital of Pontianak.

Indonesia shares Borneo island with Malaysia and Brunei.