by Juanita Nonwo – EM TV Online
There is a need for tighter security measures to be undertaken on the Papua New Guinea/Indonesian border.
This concern was made after frequent illegal border crossings have become an issue, with some perpetrators caught involved in drug smuggling.
Security personnel along the border have arrested people attempting to cross illegally while in possession of marijuana.
“The lack of available personnel and the vast Papuan territory pose challenges in preventing the entry of drugs into the region, especially from the border,” Head of the National Narcotics Agency of Papua, Brigadier General Sukirman, stated in Jayapura on Thursday.
The two countries share both land and sea borders and Brigadier General Sukirman stated that those were the gateway for drug smuggling into Indonesia.
According to the Brigadier General, smugglers often carry out their transactions at sea or through an alternative road known as ‘jalan tikus’.
“Abepantai, Hamadi, and Dok IX are the locations where they shore their boats,” he said.
The need to crack down on these illegal activities has resulted in the agency, in cooperation with the respective institutions and law enforcers, executing more preventative measures to contain drug smuggling along the border.
The National Narcotics Agency of Papua also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian Military and the National Police on the prevention of drug smuggling.
An additional 11 personnel have been deployed in the easternmost region of Indonesia to intensify their operations; whose task is to map the entry gates used for drug smuggling and the areas where the drugs are smuggled in.
