The deputy for enforcement of Indonesia’s Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNN) police inspector-general Arman Depari said he was concerned over Malaysia’s inability and lack of commitment to fighting drug smuggling in the Asean region.

Indonesia’s Antara News agency quoted Arman as saying the BNN had on many occasions complained to the Malaysian government about the flood of drugs from the country to Indonesia.

“The smuggling involves an international network originating from Malaysia. This is evident from those arrested in Riau, who smuggled the drugs into Indonesia through Aceh and northern Sumatra,” he told reporters in Pekanbaru, Riau, yesterday, after foiling the smuggling of 25kg of methamphetamine and 25,000 ecstasy pills.

Arman said he believed the drug smugglers crossed the Straits of Malacca from Malaysia and transhipped the drugs in international waters because there was no surveillance present there.

“A ship sails from there (Malaysia) to a certain coordinate, and another ship moves from here to the same coordinate and they transfer the items at sea. That is the modus operandi,” the Indonesian news agency quoted Arman as saying.

He said, as a result, the drugs from Malaysia had flooded Indonesia through Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Arman said BNN had increased surveillance, especially in Sumatra’s eastern waters, which were open and usually used by smugglers.

He said BNN was using other agencies, such as police and customs, to increase its surveillance of the routes used by drug smugglers.

“We have now undertaken seaport interdiction and taken preventive measures at ports and coastal areas in remote and outermost islands,” Arman said.