Malaysian paramilitary police are to take over security operations at border checkpoints with Thailand in an effort to curb drugs and arms smuggling and human trafficking.

The director of the Malaysian police force's internal security department said the government had ordered the change amid concerns about "loose" security at border checkpoints.

He denied the deployments were a response to worsening violence in southern Thailand, where an insurgency which has claimed some 2,200 lives since erupting in January 2004.

"It has nothing to do with the situation in southern Thailand," said Mustafa Abdullah.

"This is a cabinet decision, they want the police to be the lead agency as far as managing security at the border.

"We have conducted our checks and our reviews at the border and we found even though we have so many agencies involved, operationally it is very loose," he said.

Mustafa said the police were tasked with tightening security at the porous border to curb drug and arms smuggling, as well as human trafficking.

The police are from the paramilitary General Operations Force, and include strike team units which can be mobilised at any time, he said.

"Because of all these problems at the border, we need a lead agency to be there so that everything will be well-coordinated," Mustafa said.

"The police are already there but they work in isolation, only a few personnel are there," he said.