AN anti-vice squad targeting unwed Muslim couples is suspending operations this week following the arrest of its leader, Azhar Mohamad.

Muhamed Farid Nazmi, a member of the Badar squad’s leadership council, said they will meet to decide the next move after Azhar is released from remand on Thursday.

“We will stand down the next four days. We will hold the first meeting of our leadership council after Azhar is released,” Farid told The Malaysian Insight.

Azhar, who founded the group, was arrested on Sunday in Sg Petani. He and another squad member have been remanded until Thursday.

Kedah police told The Malaysian Insight that Azhar is being investigated under the Official Secrets Act and Societies Act.

He is said to have posted internal police communications and information on his Facebook page in breach of the OSA.

The squad is also not registered with the Registrar of Societies and has been operating on its own for the last two years, although it said it informs the religious authorities and police in Sg Petani of raids ahead of time.

It has raided budget hotels in Sg Petani, nabbing couples committing khalwat (close proximity), whom they take to a cemetery for “counselling”.

Azhar said previously the squad has nabbed “hundreds of couples” and defended its actions against claims that it is illegal, saying its operations prevented Muslims from committing vice.

Farid said the group did not know why police started looking into the squad when it had been operating for the last two years.

The Malaysian Insight understands that police took in Azhar after a police report was lodged a few days ago by a senior official of the Kedah State Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JHEAIK) in Sg Petani.

The squad has been criticised for being “excessive” in its methods by Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul, while Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa said members have the law into their own hands in the name of Islam.

The squad was also engaged in a war of words with Kedah exco in charge of religion, Ismail Salleh, over the legality of its actions. In December, the group accused Ismail of stopping a forum at a mosque in Sg Petani.

Authorities said the squad does not have the power to conduct raids and anti-vice operations, unlike the religious authorities which follow certain procedures. – January 15, 2019.