Malaysia hands suspected militant to Singapore

KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysian police said Friday they have handed a businessman suspected of channeling funds to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to Singaporean authorities.

A senior official in the police special task force for operations and counter-terrorism, who did not want to be named, told Agence France-Presse that Singaporean Abdul Majid Kunji Mohamad was handed over to the city-state late Thursday.

“We handed him over to the Singapore authorities and they can carry out further investigations as he is involved with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” he said.

The official said Singapore had informed their Malaysian counterparts late last year that Abdul Majid was hiding in the country.

“Our investigations revealed that Abdul Majid was involved in the late 1990s and early 2000 with the MILF and went to MILF camps and was trained there,” the official said.

“He was also involved in procuring components for mortars and funding the MILF, so as a militant posed a security threat to countries in the region.”

Malaysia is helping the Philippines broker peace with the MILF in an effort to end a bloody secessionist war in the restive but mineral-rich region of Mindanao, in the southern Philippines.

A long-running rebellion in the region has left more than 150,000 people dead.

Abdul Majid was arrested on May 6 in the Kuala Lumpur under the controversial Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

Human rights group Suaram condemned the deportation, alleging that Abdul Majid was not allowed access to legal counsel during his detention.

“The denial of access to legal assistance and the deportation of the detainee without proper trial are totally uncalled for and embarrassing,” it said in a statement.

The ISA, which dates back to the British colonial era, when it was used against communist insurgents, has been used against suspected terrorists as well as government opponents.