DATE=7/5/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MALAYSIA-ARMS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-264079
BYLINE=GARY THOMAS
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Malaysia, security forces are pursuing a
gang of suspected thieves who pulled off a daring
weapons robbery. There are reports that one of the
thieves has been wounded and possibly killed, and
conflicting reports that at least one soldier has been
injured. VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports from
our Southeast Asia Bureau.
TEXT: A combined force of some one-thousand soldiers
and police moved through the dense jungles of northern
Malaysia Wednesday to trap a gang of weapons thieves.
Gunfire and occasional artillery explosions could be
heard near the town of Sauk, some 250 kilometers north
of Kuala Lumpur and only 75 kilometers from the border
with Thailand. The gunmen are holed up in the Jenalik
forest in Perak.
However, further details of the military action are
difficult to come by. Authorities have clamped a
tight lid on information about the matter, which has
deeply embarrassed the government.
On Sunday, a group of men disguised as high-ranking
military officers bluffed their way onto two military
posts and made off with more than 100 automatic
assault rifles, grenade launchers, and ammunition.
They then fled into the jungle, taking two
plainclothes police officers and a local farmer
hostage as they did so. Authorities quickly moved in a
security team to isolate the gunmen and force them to
surrender.
It is not known if the thieves' motive was profit or
politics. No insurgency has taken place in Malaysia
since the 1950s. A police inspector general hinted the
thieves belong to an obscure Islamic religious cult,
but he declined to provide any further information.
If the arms were intended for sale, they would find a
ready market among Muslim rebels in the southern
Philippines or separatists in Indonesia's neighboring
Aceh province.
Whatever the motive, the government has found itself
deeply embarrassed by incident. The theft came two and
one half months after Muslim rebels from the
Philippines kidnapped 21 tourists from a Malaysian
resort in Sabah state.
Malaysian newspapers, which normally refrain from any
criticism of the government, have called for a review
of the country's security apparatus. And opposition
politicians are calling for the resignation of Defense
Minister Najib Tun Razak. (signed)
NEB/HK/GPT/JO
05-Jul-2000 06:09 AM EDT (05-Jul-2000 1009 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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