Kuala Lumpur: Over 170 terrorists, mostly members of Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf and LTTE, have been arrested in Malaysia under the tough security law since 2001, a media report said today.
A majority of those who have been detained are Jemaah Islamiyah members. However, there are only five who remain at the detention centre, the New Straits Times reported.
One of the terrorists was identified as Fazdullah, said to have been the head of Tandzim al-Qaeda Southeast Asia.
The Universiti Teknologi Malaysia graduate is believed to have recruited at least five local students from the university.
Mustawan, a 35-year-old Indonesian, was one of the foreigners recruited by Fazdullah. He was arrested here in August last year. Faizal Ahmad is from Perak state, while the Faizal Sulaiman and Razali are from Johor state.
Of the others arrested, the foreigners were deported and handed over to authorities in their respective countries, while the locals were rehabilitated before being released.
Unnamed sources quoted by the daily said prior to 2001, there were not many terrorists here but authorities kept a close watch as investigations showed JI had been trying to set up base here since 1985.
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