The Malaysian police today pledged to step up efforts with Indonesia to battle transborder crime and tame syndicates operating at their joint border after scoring some "major successes".

Joint border operations in Sabah and Sarawak will focus o­n tackling illegal logging and smuggling of firearms, said Internal Security and Public Order assistant director Kamalul Azmi Darus.

Joint patrols by marine police in the busy Straits of Malacca will focus o­n closing illegal entry points used by immigrants and smugglers of contraband, he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

"Lately, we had scored some major successes in crippling several syndicates through such cooperation especially with the Malaysian police's effort in reducing the number of vehicles being smuggled into Indonesia," he said.

He was speaking after opening a four-day joint operation meeting here between Malaysian and Indonesian police.

Exchanging intelligence

Kamalul said the meeting would discuss how enforcement agencies in both countries could be more effective in their operations against syndicates based near key border towns and coastal areas.

They will also exchange intelligence and seek to improve links by appointing more officers at border towns and ports, he said.

"Crackdowns o­n illegal bases were not much effective mainly due to the location of the bases and our efforts in trailing them are made much more difficult whenever they cross the common border," he said.

Such problems could be minimised if enforcement agencies agree o­n a system to alert each other, or close all escape routes, he added. AFP