Navy alerted ahead of holiday

JAKARTA: Indonesian Navy Headquarters has boosted its patrols to combat smuggling and other crimes, saying that the nation is most vulnerable in the run up to the Idul Fitri and Christmas holidays.

"The Navy will step up operations in the waters north of Madura and in the Malacca Strait," Navy Chief Admiral Indroko Sastrowiryono said in Surabaya on Monday, Antara reported.

Smugglers would try to take advantage of the authorities' preoccupation with security during the upcoming holidays, he said.

The waters north of Madura were vulnerable because it was the intersection between Kalimantan and Java, while the Malacca Strait was an international sea lane, he said.

Other areas of concern for the Navy included the waters around Aceh, and the activities of Middle Eastern asylum seekers who used Indonesia as a gateway to Australia, he added. -JP