Facing down terror

On guard: Ayob says that ‘the division will always be on guard’ against terrorism in Malaysia. — Filepic

KNOWN just as E8, the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division has been working behind the scenes since the 1990s in Malaysia’s battle against terrorism. Terrorist groups and cells ranging from al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah to Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia and, more recently, the Islamic State (IS) have been busted due to E8’s painstaking work.

Yet a misconception has persisted about how Malaysia was used as a launch pad for the Sept 11, 2001, attack on the United States. The division could not counter such allegations because information about its work had to remain classified for security reasons. Now, finally, after files have been unclassified, the head of the E8, Deputy Comm Datuk Ayob Khan, speaks to Sunday Star to set the record straight.