Malaysian police arrest 2 suspected JI members<\/p>\n
Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Malaysian police have arrested two suspected members of a cell of
\nJamaah Islamiyah, an Islamic group suspected in a string of plots
\nand attacks in Southeast Asia, a government official said on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
The two men, both Malaysian religious teachers in their 30s,
\nwere detained early Saturday in Sandakan, a town in Malaysia's
\nSabah state on Borneo island, the official said on condition of
\nanonymity.<\/p>\n
The suspects, whose identities were not revealed, were part of
\na cell that arranged accommodation and transport for new Jamaah
\nIslamiyah recruits traveling through Malaysia on their way to
\ncamps in the southern Philippines for military training, the
\nofficial said.<\/p>\n
Last month, police in Sandakan arrested two other alleged
\nmembers of the cell.<\/p>\n
All four suspects had been fairly active in the past but had
\nnot carried out work for Jamaah Islamiyah in recent months, the
\nofficial said. Their cell leader was believed to have escaped to
\nIndonesia in late 2001.<\/p>\n
\"Police hope to get fresh leads from the suspects on the
\nextent of (Jamaah Islamiyah's) activities in this region,\" the
\nofficial said.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, commenting on Saturday's
\narrests, said more Jamaah Islamiah members might be detained
\nsoon.<\/p>\n
The authorities knew their movements and would arrest them
\n\"when the time came,\" Mahathir was quoted as saying by the
\nBernama national news agency.<\/p>\n
Jamaah Islamiyah is the main suspect in the Oct. 12 bombings
\nin Bali, Indonesia, that killed more than 190 people, mostly
\nforeign tourists.<\/p>\n
Security officials say Jamaah Islamiyah has ties to Osama bin
\nLaden's al-Qaeda terror network and accuse it of planning attacks
\non U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions in Singapore and
\nMalaysia.<\/p>\n
Since mid-2001, authorities in mostly Muslim Malaysia have
\narrested more than 70 suspected Islamic militants, including
\ndozens of alleged members of Jamaah Islamiyah. They are being
\nheld under strict security laws allowing indefinite detention
\nwithout trial.<\/p>\n
\"They have been arrested under the ISA,\" a spokesman at
\nfederal police headquarters said, referring to the Internal
\nSecurity Act, used extensively by authorities for nearly two
\nyears now to hold without trial suspected Islamic militants.<\/p>\n
The group, which aims to turn Malaysia, the southern
\nPhilippines and Indonesia into an Islamic state, was linked to
\nthe al-Qaeda network accused of the September 2001 attacks on the
\nUnited States, regional authorities say.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, which had begun arresting suspected Islamic
\nmilitants even before the September attacks, said last November
\nthat those in its custody had been identified as Jamaah Islamiah
\noperatives or sympathizers, with many having received military
\ntraining in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Regional security officials have said that Jamaah Islamiyah
\nmembers received arms and bomb-making training at al-Qaeda camps
\nin Afghanistan and in camps in the southern Philippines run by
\nthe Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group.<\/p>\n
Malaysia's Sabah state has close geographic and historical
\nties to the southern Philippines, a mostly Muslim region in the
\npredominantly Catholic Philippines where the government has been
\nbattling insurgencies for years.<\/p>\n
Sabah is a short boat ride from the southern Philippines.
\nJamaah Islamiyah wants to establish a pan-Islamic state in
\nSoutheast Asia covering Malaysia, the southern Philippines and
\nIndonesia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/malaysian-police-arrest-2-suspected-ji-members-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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