POLICE today warned Perlis mufti Mohamad Asri Zainul Abidin not to get involved in police business by dictating how they should carry out their duties.

The warning from the Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun came after Asri had requested that police exclude principal director of the Special Branch’s Counter Terrorism Division Ayub Khan Mydin Pitchay from any investigations related to terrorism in Perlis.

While not revealing the reasons why Asri had picked on Ayob, Fuzi today said police have the full right to carry out its investigations and urged other parties not to get involved.

“He (Asri) has no prerogative to get involved, and he should not get involved. It is our right,” The IGP said at the Police Academy this evening.

“He should not try to dictate to us and get involved in our investigations when it involves national security.”

Asri’s criticism came after police arrested eight individuals linked to Salafism at a tahfiz school in Perlis.

Asri had then said the school had no links to the Perlis religious department as it was an independent tahfiz centre.

Fuzi had announced on Sunday that seven suspected foreign terrorists and a local suspect were detained by the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division in Perlis, Kuala Lumpur and Johor last month.

He had said that all the suspects were involved with an Islamic learning centre in Perlis, which was believed to be promoting extremist teachings.

“They are students or former teaching staff of the centre. We acted upon receiving intelligence that a Yemen-based terrorist group was planning to set up a learning centre in Southeast Asia to promote the Salafi jihadi extremist teachings.

“Our counterparts from foreign countries have shown that the suspects had connections with a madrasah in Dammaj, Yemen, set up by Sheikh Muqbil Hadi Al Wadi, a Salafi Jihadi scholar.

“The madrasah follows the Salafi Jihadi teachings that permits the killings of non-Muslims and even Muslims who don’t follow their ways,” Fuzi had said.

According to Fuzi, the group also branded the country’s democratic system as “toghut” (un-Islamic).

The IGP revealed that five Europeans and another from the American continent, aged between 24 and 38, were detained in Perlis. All six, he said, were believed to be linked to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, as well as other terror cells in the region.

Also arrested was a 33-year-old Middle Eastern man in Kuala Lumpur. He was believed to be a teacher at the learning centre.

A 32-year-old Malaysian, who studied at the centre in 2014 was also nabbed in Johor.

“These teachings are the basis of most terrorist groups, including the IS, Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiah, Boko Haram and Abu Sayyaf,” Fuzi had said. – October 9, 2018.