"We and the Malaysian customs authorities will always increase coordination to reduce the number of smuggling cases," Secretary of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise Acmad Riadi said here on Thursday.

He made the remarks after closing a joint patrol between the North Sumatra provincial office of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise and the Malaysian customs office at the Belawan port here.

During the week-long patrol, the Malaysian customs office sent five patrol ships to conduct a joint patrol with the Indonesian customs officers in the Malacca Strait, Singapore Strait and Johor Strait.

He said the customs authorities in the two countries had so far established good cooperation.

The joint patrol was also intended to uphold the law and forge mutual understanding and cooperation between the two neighboring countries in curbing smuggling activities, he said.

Data from the Directorate General of Customs and Excise show that used clothes and liquor were among the goods frequently smuggled from Malaysia to the northern part of Sumatra island in the past five years.

(ANT-197/S012)