Indonesia, Malaysia asked to tighten border patrol

JOLO, Sulu, Philippines – A military official on Saturday urged Malaysian and Indonesian authorities to intensify their border security as most of the kidnappings in the area occurred along their corridors.

Lt. Gen. Mayoralgo dela Cruz, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, said measures on how to strengthen the border security have been discussed during a tripartite level meeting with the two countries.

“Most of the kidnappings occurred on their sides of the border and not in the Philippines, so they should strengthen their patrol,” Dela Cruz said.

 The official urged his Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts to share information so they could quickly respond to any incident in the area.

“It usually takes two to three days for us to get the information and it’s too late to respond,” Dela Cruz said.

He stressed the importance of coordination in the immediate dispatch of troops to track down the possible entry points of kidnappers.

“It could be possible that a kidnapping was carried out by someone from their side and the captives were merely turned over to the bandits here,” Dela Cruz said.