Malaysia detains 13 students under tough security law: police
Malaysia detains 13 students under tough security law: police
Agencies
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia has detained 13 students under a tough security law
because they are suspected to have links to terror groups, a top
police official said on Monday.
Mohamed Bakri Omar, police chief said the 13 were arrested by
police under the Internal Security Act (ISA) when they arrived
from Pakistan in a special aircraft.
Pakistan had decided to deport the Malaysian students,
arrested in September along with six Indonesian students in the
port city of Karachi, for suspected ties to Islamic militants.
But the Indonesians, including Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, brother
of suspected top al-Qaeda operative Riduan Isamuddin alias
Hambali, would remain under investigation in Pakistan.
The students who were studying at two institutions in Karachi,
were previously detained by Pakistan authorities for alleged
involvement with terror groups.
"Their detention is under the ISA because they are believed to
be involved in militant activities," Mohamed Bakri was quoted as
saying by Bernama news agency.
Police said the students would be interrogated to find out if
they posed a threat to Malaysia even though they are not a threat
to Pakistan.
"We want to know if they are linked to the al-Qaeda or Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) terror network," a senior police official told
AFP.
"Pakistan detained them because they were suspected to be
involved with the al-Qaeda."
The official said police needed to question the 13 students to
cross-check the intelligence information Pakistan authorities
obtained from them.
"Pakistan authorities could have missed out something. They
may not be a threat to Malaysia but maybe to Singapore. We need
to check," he said.
Most of the students are from the central state of Selangor
and southern Johor state that borders Singapore.
The al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network
remains a threat to the region but its Malaysia arm has been
contained with the arrest of scores of operatives, a top
intelligence officer said last week.
"The operation to eliminate the JI network (in the region) is
continuing. In Malaysia, we are close in destroying their
network," Yusof Abdul Rahman, special branch director told
reporters.
Yusof said a total of 94 militants are currently being
detained in Malaysia and 69 of them are allegedly JI members.
They are detained under the ISA which allows them to be held
indefinitely without trial. Some of them were arrested before the
Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.