KL to step up border security

KL to step up border security

MALAYSIA: Malaysia said on Friday it would intensify security on its northern border and in territorial waters off Sabah and Sarawak states on Borneo island in order to check arms smuggling.

A defense ministry spokesman said the armed forces would work together with immigration and police to patrol "problem areas" such as the border with Thailand.

Police from the southern Thai province of Satun recently made major weapons hauls and arrested many suspects in a series of interceptions of smuggled arms shipments bound for rebel armies in countries such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

In Malaysia this week, police in northern Penang, not far from the Thai border, seized a cache of weapons after busting a gun- running syndicate. --AFP