Published on December 05, 2005

Two officers, one civilian arrested; guns recovered

Malaysian police said yesterday they had arrested three men including two of their own officers over a weapons heist at a police camp in Terengganu state, and recovered all the stolen arms and ammunition.

“We have solved the case,” Ter-engganu police chief Hussin Ismail said from the northeastern state.

“We have arrested two police personnel and one member of the public,” he said, adding that the officers were from the Kubang Badak police camp, where the theft took place early on Saturday.

The heist, in which 21 guns and some 645 rounds of ammunition were stolen, was the third such raid in recent years, heightening fears of militant activity after a Muslim cult stole weapons in 2000.

But Hussin dismissed any connection to militant activity, saying the thieves had intended to sell the weapons, which included 19 Smith and Wesson revolvers and two pistols, a Browning and a Steyr.

“No. It’s more for monetary

gain ... there is no indication,

no connection whatsoever

with other things,” Hussin said, although he added that investi-gations into the case were ongoing.

Thai military spokesperson Akara Thiproj said Thai officials had yet to analyse the incident to see if it was related to the ongoing violence in the far South.

Malaysia’s Channel Three had reported that the thieves used a vehicle bearing a Thai licence plate.

Police said the weapons and ammunition were found yesterday morning on the other side of the country, in Malacca state on the southwest coast.

Malacca police chief Ayob Mohamed said the cache was in a canvas travelling bag left at the gate of a remote police station. “All the weapons have been found and are in police custody,” Ayob said.

He said all the weapons had been checked and accounted for.

Security forces set up roadblocks in northeastern Malaysia and at the Thai border early yesterday after the heist at the camp just outside the state capital Kuala Terengganu.

The New Straits Times said the thieves had entered the weapons store by cutting a hole in the fence, but left behind assault rifles and flare grenades, which were locked inside steel cabinets. Other reports said police had locked down the camp, where 300 officers are based.

The weapons theft raised memories of a bloody hostage drama involving Islamic militants.

In July 2000, 15 men from the shadowy Al-Ma’unah Muslim cult, broke into two army camps in the northern state of Perak and stole more than 100 weapons. They took four hostages, torturing and killing two, before surrendering after a five-day siege.

Agence France-Presse,

The Nation

KUALA LUMPUR

Post your comment to this story here