Malaysia's northernmost state of Perlis is to install closed-circuit cameras on the border with neighbouring Thailand to tighten security, reports said.

"We will do this beginning next month. There will be sufficient number of CCTVs placed along the area," the state's chief minister Shahidan Kassim was quoted as saying on the New Straits Times website.

The cameras, to be placed at strategic locations along a 5.3km stretch of the state's border, are aimed at thwarting security threats and smuggling, the official Bernama news agency said without elaborating.

Diplomatic tussle

Malaysia ramped up security along its border with Thailand in August after 131 Thai Muslims fled into the country saying they feared for their lives. Their arrival has triggered a diplomatic tussle over their fate.

Last month Defence Minister Najib Razak said extra forces would be deployed on the border after a top military official alleged that members of Thailand's military had been spotted trying to spy on Malaysia.

Nearly 1,000 people have died in unrest in Thailand's mainly Muslim provinces bordering Malaysia since January 2004.