As a joint Indonesian and Timor-Leste police taskforce continue to question a boat crew arrested for carrying 250 kilograms of illegal methamphetamine intercepted off the coast of Dili earlier this month, Sahat Sitohourus, said the Indonesian government would increase security at sea and land borders.

 “Drugs and illegal fishing are the biggest enemies between Timor-Leste and Indonesia,’ he said. “We have deployed more security between our two countries so we can work together to eradicate.”

The Indonesian-Timorese border crossing is prone to drug trafficking due to the multiple entry points, unmonitored jungle roads and scarcity of police equipment, authorities claim. 

In recent years joint Timor-Leste and Indonesian police and intelligence operations have intensified early detection of drug distribution networks in the area, but the provinces geographical location allows open access of illegal drugs via the sea, air and land transportation routes.

The apparent arrival in Timor-Leste of the sort of illegal drugs that has brought dependency and health risks to people in other parts of the world has prompted reflection.

Francisco Miranda Branco, the Deputy Chairman of Fretilin, told National Parliament on Friday: "We must always strengthen officers working in the border area to eradicate drugs, if not then Timor-Leste will become a transit site for drugs in the future.”

He warned that impressionable Timorese youth were particularily vulnerable.

Branco said Timor-Leste police had captured illegal drug smugglers. But he said suspects had been able to flee Timor-Leste and escape punishment while they waited for trial.

"I think in the future we must revise drugs laws,” he said.