Joint Patrols for Indonesian and Indian Navies
Thursday, 11 March, 2010 | 22:04 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Indonesian and Indian navies are holding joint patrols in the Malacca Strait, a border area between Indonesia and India.

The patrols, named the India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (Indido Corpet), have been carried out since Friday 5 March and will continue for a month.

The patrol area is around the Andaman-Nicobar archipelago, India; and Weh Island, Indonesia.

According to Colonel I Wayan Midhio, Head of the PR Bureau at the Ministry of Defense, the patrols are a follow-up to information provided by the Singaporean Navy on the possibility of terrorist activities in the Malacca Strait.

“For the patrols with India, we have deployed two patrol ships,” he said yesterday.

The Indonesian Navy still hold patrols with Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia in the Malacca Straits Sea Patrol, the Alur Pari Operation and the Taring Pari Operation.

These three operations use patrol boats from the Western Fleet, which is anchored at Belawan base, Sabang and supported by Kalimantan.

Besides the Malacca Strait, the navy has intensified patrols in the Sunda Strait, the Makassar Strait, Papua waters, Maluku up until the Philippines.

Cornila Desyana