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.