Malaysia detains six Indonesian terror suspects

Malaysia detains six Indonesian terror suspects

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia has ordered six Indonesian terror suspects detained for
two years after they were captured returning from a training camp
in the Philippines, a senior security official said on Sunday.

The suspects are believed to be members of the al-Qaeda-linked
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) that carried out the Bali bombings in 2002
which killed more than 200 people, the official said.

They were caught among a group of illegal immigrants trying to
enter the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island
several weeks ago but their arrest had not been announced, the
official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

They were discovered among a boat load of illegal immigrants
arrested while trying to enter Malaysia's state of Sabah near
Sandakan, a port on the northeast coast of Borneo, just across
the Sulu Sea from the islands of the southern Philippines.

It is a favored route for militants. There is large flow of
illegal migrants through Borneo as the island is shared between
Indonesia, Malaysia and the tiny sultanate of Brunei, and the
coastline and interior are hard to patrol.

The source said one of the men known as "Denny" was a trainer
at a camp hosted by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in
the restive southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

Philippines intelligence officials wish to question "Denny"
and he may be sent back, though for now all six men were being
held in Kamunting detention camp in northern Malaysia, the
source said.

They have been served with two year detention orders under
Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows indefinite
detention without trial.

Some 90 alleged militants, many of them suspected JI members,
are already held in Malaysia and human rights groups regularly
press the government to bring them to trial or set them free.