IGP denies Hamas rumour

KUALA LUMPUR: Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has denied renewed claims by Israel's secret service officials that the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement (Hamas) is providing military training for Palestinian students in Malaysia.
Khalid said today there is no truth in such claims.
"We strongly deny this wild accusation. However, we can confirm that Palestinians are here for their formal education in many universities, just as their fellow countrymen are doing in other countries," he told theSun.
A news report quoted an Israeli news daily as saying that the Israel secret service, Shin Bet, had discovered such activities during an indictment against a 24-year-old Palestinian recently.
Waseem Qawasmeh, who was a student of International Islamic University Malaysia, was held by Shin Bet in February last year upon returning from Malaysia.
Shin Bet had claimed that it had extracted information from the accused during interrogations purportedly indicating that the Palestinian student had received such training, including paragliding lessons, from Hamas to prepare them for the movement's activities.
The claims first surfaced last year, months after Qawasmeh's detention, but Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said then that it was unfounded.