Malaysia - Police arrest key leader of Kumpulan Militant Malaysia (KMM)

Malaysian police arrest senior figure in Southeast Asian Islamic militant group

By SEAN YOONG Associated Press Writer
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sep 27, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Malaysian police on Friday arrested a senior figure in an alleged Islamic militant network in Southeast Asia accused of having al-Qaida ties and plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy and other targets in Singapore, the national police chief said.
"I wish to announced the capture of one of our prime suspects related to the Malaysian militant group," Norian Mai told a news conference. "He is one of the leaders in the Jemaah Islamiyah in Malaysia."
Norian said police arrested Wan Min Wan Mat, a 42-year-old former university lecturer, Friday morning in Kota Bahru, the capital of the northern state of Kelantan. Wan Min was the leader of the militant group in Johor, the Malaysian state that abuts Singapore.
Norian said Malaysian police had identified eight other members of the militant group, and announced rewards of 50,000 ringgit (US$13,158) for help in their capture.
"We have information which convinces us that they have taken action and might take action to threaten national security," he said.
Norian refused to give details of the allegations, but said that Wan Min had received weapons training in Afghanistan in 2000 and the southern Philippines in 1996.
He said the suspects were "certainly" connected to 13 alleged Jemmaah Islamiyah members arrested in Singapore in August, but added it was not clear whether they had a "direct connection on a personal basis."
Norian said police believed the latest suspects might have fled to Indonesia, Singapore or Thailand. Malaysian officials had contacted authorities in these neighboring countries to help trace the suspects.
"The police will track them until they are captured," he said.
Norian also said the latest suspects were connected to two Indonesians - Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali - who allegedly led members of the militant group in Singapore.
"They received similar instructions from the same figures, Hambali and Abu Bakar Ba'asyir," Norian said. "These two are the leaders of the movement."
Abu Bakar has denied involvement in Jemaah Islamiyah.
Including Friday's arrest, Malaysian authorities have detained more than 60 Islamic militant suspects in the past 18 months under a strict security law allowing indefinite detention without trial. None have been charged in court with any crime, and most are alleged to be members of Jemaah Islamiyah.
Singapore has arrested more than 30 alleged members of the group and accused them of plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy and other pro-Western targets in the city-state.
Among the suspects in Malaysia is Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army captain who is accused of letting senior al-Qaida leaders including two Sept. 11 hijackers use his apartment near Kuala Lumpur for a meeting in January 2000.
Yazid is also accused of helping alleged Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui when he visited Malaysia later in 2000, and of buying four (metric) tons of ammonium nitrate which officials say was intended to be used to make truck bombs in the Singapore plot.
Officials say Yazid was acting on instructions from Hambali.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved

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