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olonia airport in Medan, North Sumatra, says it will file an official complaint to Malaysia over the latter's drug screening capacity at its airports, which have often failed to stop smugglers coming to Indonesia.

An official complaint would be filed with Malaysian airport authorities on Friday or Monday at the latest, said Endang Sumiarsa, the general manager for Polonia International Airport under PT Angkasa Pura II.

"We have finished a draft of the letter," he said.

The letter aims to remind the Malaysian authorities to be more stringent in its checking for drugs among passengers heading to Polonia, Endang said.

In their most recent bust, Polonia airport customs and excise officials confiscated more than 4 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride, known locally as shabu-shabu, from passengers travelling from Penang Airport in Malaysia.

"This will be a warning letter. If Malaysian airport authorities do not take it seriously, then don't blame us if we apply stricter measures on flights from Malaysia," Endang told The Jakarta Post in Medan on Friday.

Polonia has recently been busy with an influx foiled smuggling attempts from Malaysia, he said, adding that six such trafficking attempts had been stopped in the last five months alone.

Endang questioned why airport managements in Malaysia had been lax in their approach to illicit drug smuggling by passengers on flights to Indonesia, while at the same very strict on Indonesian passengers carrying drugs to Malaysia.

The Malaysian government's lax approach to fighting drug abuse could be reported to the ASEAN and China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drugs (ACCORD) forum, North Sumatra Anti Drug Community Information Center director Zulkarnaen Nasution said.

Zulkarnaen, who claimed to have joined two ACCORD meetings in Bali and Bangkok, Thailand, said both Malaysia and Indonesia were members of the forum and had the same interest in fighting drug abuse.

Zulkarnaen also said the Indonesian government needed to "pressure" the Malaysian government during the annual ACCORD forum, to stop drug smuggling from Malaysia to Indonesia.

"What we see currently is unfair treatment and controls applied by the Malaysian airport authorities surrounding the trafficking of drugs to and from Malaysia," Zulkarnaen said.

Where a problem was not regarded by Malaysian authorities as endangering their country, controls were loose, he said. Conversely, surveillance was tightened when it was the other way around, Zulkarnaen said.

The Wednesday smuggling attempt would never have occurred had Penang airport authorities applied tighter controls on drug trafficking, he added.

Separately, Medan Police chief Sr. Comr. Imam Margono said suspect TS, arrested Wednesday for allegedly carrying shabu-shabu from Malaysia, was a member of an international drug syndicate.

"We have confirmed this," Imam said, adding that his office was investigating the suspect's network in North Sumatra.

Imam also said TS was a recidivist, and a former member of the water police.