Police conducting the screening operations. — Bernama photo
CYBERJAYA: The federal police screened 290 foreigners an operation to detect individuals suspected of having links with terrorist groups at several locations here.
The 281 men and nine women included 98 students from public and private higher education institutions.
Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division principal assistant director Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the checks from 9.30pm on Wednesday and 6.30am yesterday involved locations such as Neo Cyber, Biz Avenue II and Lingkaran Cyber Point Barat.
He said the foreigners were taken to the Sepang police headquarters to be cross-checked with terrorist databases including Interpol Foreign Fighters Terrorist (FTF) List.
However, none of them were found to have been linked to terrorist activities, he added.
“Nevertheless, we detained 57 foreigners comprising 54 men and three women for not having identification documents and staying beyond the prescribed period,” Ayob Khan said in a statement yesterday.
He said of the 290 foreigners screened, 50 were from Yemen, Pakistan (32), Syria (32), Bangladesh (29), India (27), Nepal (22), Palestine (17), Sudan (10) ), Indonesia (seven), Libya and Nigeria (six each), five each from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Sri Lanka, and the rest from other countries.
On Wednesday night, speaking to the media during the operation, Ayob Khan said it was conducted to track down suspected foreigners in connection with terrorist activities ahead of the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games 2017, following a similar operation at Masjid India in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
He said 200 officers and personnel from the General Operations Force (GOF), Federal Reserve Unit, Bomb Destruction Unit, Interpol, Special Action Unit, Immigration Department and National Registration Department (NRD) were involved in the operation.
Ayob Khan said the Atomic Energy Licensing Board also assisted in the operation by lending personal radiation detectors. — Bernama