Malaysia and Thailand police today pledged to bolster cooperation to curb the smuggling of drugs, cars and weapons across their porous joint border, the official Bernama news agency said.

The joint working committee on criminal activities also agreed to improve measures to deal with commercial crimes and border patrols at the end of a two-day meeting in eastern Sabah state, Bernama said.

Malaysian police chief Norian Mai said the committee finalised the draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to exchange criminal evidence between the two countries, especially vehicles and other items seized in car-smuggling arrests.

"Fifteen vehicles were returned to us last year based on our cooperation previously but we've decided on an MoU so that in the event that vehicles are stolen in Malaysia and sent to Thailand, and vice-versa, the process to return them will be faster and more efficient," he said.

Credit card cloning

On commercial crimes, Norian said the two countries would focus on combating the cloning of credit cards.

"We've traced credit cards cloned in Malaysia also being used in southern Thailand. Both forces are giving attention to this matter as it affects people of both countries," he said.

Norian praised the success of Thailand police in tackling drug-smuggling and trafficking activities, and said both sides would step up intelligence exchanges to wipe out syndicates.

"The supply of certain types of drugs, especially from the Golden Triangle in Thailand, has declined and this is proven by the escalating prices of drugs, especially heroin, in the Malaysian market," he said.

"However, the Malaysian police have detected a greater use of other types of drugs like ganja and cough mixture like codeine. We believe a close chain exists between the syndicates of both countries."

Thailand, represented at the talks by police commissioner-general Sant Sarutanond, will host next year's meeting.

Rules relaxed

In Kuala Lumpur, Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung announced the government has relaxed rules for Thai citizens shopping at duty-free complexes at their border crossings.

Thai citizens do not need passports to shop at designated duty-free zones but they must stay within a three-kilometre radius of the area, he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Chor said Malaysian security would remain vigilant to ensure Thai criminals did not take the opportunity to distribute drugs or smuggle arms while in the country. - AFP