Original upload date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Sun, 05 Dec 2021 16:51:03 GMT
It was Malaysia's largest military weapon heist that turned into a hostage crisis and a 5-day standoff with the police and army.
On July 2nd 2000, 15 men disguised as high-ranking army officers sto
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le over 100 military-grade weapons and thousands of ammunition rounds from two Malaysian army camps. Police suspected the weapons were for regional terrorist groups. But not far from the crime scenes, Sauk villagers reported gunfire behind their school.
Two Special Branch police officers were sent to investigate but ended up as hostages instead. In the unfolding crisis, more hostages were taken, two of them tortured and murdered.
Malaysian police and army intelligence revealed that Al-Ma'unah, an Islamic deviationist cult, were responsible for the heist and hostages. Over an arduous 5-days, psychological warfare was used to try to persuade the cult to surrender peacefully. But an ultimatum from Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to end the hostage crisis by Day 5, leads to a police-army confrontation with Mohamad Amin, leader of Al-Ma'unah.
With two hostages already dead, it was up to police commando Abdul Razak bin Mohd Yusof and Army Field Commander Zaini Mohamad Said to complete their rescue and recovery mission with no further casualties.
