Atambua – Illegal border crossing into Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province from East Timor is something hard to control, a local military official said.

"Illegal border crossing is something hard to prevent or control because many of the border-crossers take narrow paths and do so at night," chief of the Security Border Task Force, Col Djoko Setiono said here Friday.

According to Setiono, people cross the border for traditional reasons like visiting relatives , shopping and other purposes but they do it without carrying the required immigration documents.

He pointed out many border crossers were also frequently found not to bring visas with them when they were about to enter East Nusa Tenggara.

"As illegal border crossing still occurs, we are intensifying our control on border areas," he said.

Setiono said Indonesian military personnel deployed in border areas numbered 1,500 compared to the 316.7-km border line – 172-km border line covering East Nusa Tenggara's district of Belu bordering on East Timor's districts of Bobonaro and Covalima, and 144.7-km line covering Timor Tengah Utara bordering on Oecusse district in the newly-born country.

"The number of Indonesian military personnel assigned in border areas is inadequate compared to the lenght of the border line," he said.