Australian and Papua New Guinean authorities have completed the latest joint patrol of the Torres Strait and PNG's Western Province as part of ongoing efforts to protect local communities from organised crime, illegal fishing and cross-border trafficking.
The patrol brought together border, police, fisheries and immigration officers from both nations to visit Daru Island, and Bula, Jara and Tais villages in PNG, as well as Saibai Island and surrounding waters in the Torres Strait.
The Torres Strait sits less than four kilometres from the PNG mainland at its closest point and remains one of Australia's most strategically important border regions.
Australian agencies that participated in the patrols include the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Border Force (ABF), the Queensland Police Service, and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.
ABF Assistant Commissioner James Copeman said criminal syndicates continue to try to exploit remote coastlines and traditional movement routes to traffic drugs, weapons and other illicit commodities between the two nations.
Australia and PNG have been conducting joint cross border patrols since 1997. Each year sees a number of joint patrols by the two countries.