KOTA BHARU: The government has approved an allocation of RM1.5bil for the construction of a security wall along the Malaysia-Thailand border in Kelantan.
Kelantan police chief Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat (pic) said the matter was informed by the National Security Council (NSC) recently.
He said the security wall will be built along the border from Tumpat to Tanah Merah.
"Recently, the Chief Secretary to the Government (Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar) along with the Irrigation and Drainage Department made a visit to the border.
"This matter (the construction of the security wall) was discussed with the Chief Secretary to the Government together with the NSC as an additional allocation, and it is in the process (of quotation/tender)," he said at a press conference at the Kelantan Contingent Police Headquarters here today (Oct 21).
Mohd Yusoff said the security wall will not only curb smuggling and cross-border crime but will also function as a flood barrier.
Last Sunday (Oct 19), Bernama reported that residents of Rantau Panjang hoped the 'two-in-one' wall would not only protect the national border from being breached but would also be able to hold back the overflow of the Sungai Golok whenever the monsoon season threatens homes and businesses in the area.
On Oct 13, Mohd Yusoff was reported to have said that the construction of a security wall along the Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang, Pasir Mas, is now no longer an option but a strategic necessity to curb smuggling and simultaneously defend the nation's sovereignty along the Kelantan-Thailand border.
He was reported to have said this is because the narrow and shallow geographical form of the Sungai Golok makes security control difficult to carry out conventionally, even with the help of high technology such as artificial intelligence, drones, or closed-circuit cameras. - Bernama
