Credit : Datuk Seri Saifuddin's X
MANILA, October 21 – Malaysia and Japan have agreed to step up cooperation against cross-border crime, with Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail meeting a senior Japanese police official on the sidelines of the 20th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC) in Manila, the Philippines, on Wednesday.
Saifuddin said he received a courtesy call from Tachikawa Koichi, Deputy Commissioner General of Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA), in a post shared on X on Wednesday afternoon, accompanied by photos from the meeting.
According to the minister, the meeting focused on strengthening security cooperation between the two countries, particularly through the close working relationship between the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and the NPA in confronting increasingly complex cross-border crime threats.
Among the matters discussed were expanding information sharing and strengthening investigative cooperation to combat drug trafficking, cybercrime, online fraud and human trafficking, he said.
“Cross-border crime knows no national boundaries. That is why cooperation between enforcement agencies is vital to ensure that prevention, detection and investigation can be carried out more effectively,” Saifuddin said.
“Malaysia will continue to strengthen security cooperation with Japan, built on trust and mutual respect, to protect the safety and well-being of the people of both countries,” he added.
Growing police ties
The Manila meeting builds on a steady run of contact between Malaysian and Japanese enforcement agencies this year. On June 16, 2026, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay received a delegation from Japan’s National Public Safety Commission at Bukit Aman, where both sides discussed exchanging intelligence, investigative assistance, tracing suspects and coordinating enforcement against cross-border fraud syndicates and international organised crime, according to PDRM.
Earlier, on January 19, 2026, PDRM’s Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) director Datuk Hussein Omar Khan met a representative of the NPA from the Japanese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to discuss cooperation against drug crime, including information sharing, capacity building and enforcement best practices.
Drug trafficking between the two countries came into focus again this month. On October 13, Saifuddin said the Home Ministry was seeking further information from Japanese authorities after five Malaysians were detained at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on suspicion of trying to smuggle about five kilogrammes of cocaine, the New Straits Times reported. He said he had instructed the NCID director to contact Japanese authorities to establish the facts, including how the group allegedly cleared security checks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Online fraud has also been a shared concern. In a statement to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime working group this year, Japan said that in August 2025 Malaysian authorities, working with the Japanese police, dismantled a fraud compound in Malaysia where a deepfake tool had reportedly been used to impersonate Japanese police officers during video calls with victims.
A busy AMMTC for Malaysia
The 20th AMMTC and its related meetings, hosted by the Philippines as this year’s ASEAN chair, ran from October 20 to 21. Earlier on Wednesday, Saifuddin led Malaysia’s delegation in four consultation sessions with dialogue partners, including the 11th AMMTC Plus Japan Consultation, where the focus was on cybercrime, online fraud, drug trafficking and increasingly complex organised crime.
Cooperation between ASEAN and Japan on transnational crime is guided by the SOMTC–Japan Work Plan on Cooperation to Combat Transnational Crime (2023–2027). At the 10th AMMTC Plus Japan meeting in Melaka in September 2025, Japan said it was coordinating support for ASEANAPOL’s efforts against online scams under that work plan, according to Japan’s Mission to ASEAN.
On the sidelines in Manila, Saifuddin also met Brunei’s Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office (Security and Law), Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Sufian Haji Sabtu, with both sides agreeing to deepen police and security information sharing.
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