Kota bharu: The government has allocated RM1.5 billion for the construction of a security wall along the Malaysia-Thailand border in Kelantan.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Kelantan police chief, Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat, confirmed that the National Security Council (MKN) communicated the approval recently. The wall will be built from the Tumpat to Tanah Merah stretch along the border.

“Recently, the Chief Secretary to the Government (Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar) conducted a visit to the border, with the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (JPS). The project was discussed with the Chief Secretary and the MKN as an additional allocation. It is now in the quotation and tender process,” he said during a press conference at the Kelantan contingent police headquarters today.

Mohd Yusoff said the security wall will serve a dual purpose of curbing cross-border crime, and act as a flood barrier.

This follows a Bernama report last Sunday, in which residents of Rantau Panjang expressed that the ‘two-in-one’ wall is necessary to prevent security breaches along the border and also contain the Sungai Golok overflow during the monsoon season, which threatens homes and businesses annually.

On Oct 13, Mohd Yusoff was reported as saying that the construction of the security wall along Sungai Golok in Rantau Panjang, Pasir Mas, is no longer just an option but crucial to curb smuggling and safeguard national sovereignty along the Kelantan-Thailand border.

He explained that the narrow, shallow nature of Sungai Golok renders conventional security measures, even those aided by AI, drones, or CCTV, largely ineffective.