KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Malaysian High Commissioner to the UK Datuk Ahmad Rasidi Hazizi has denied British media reports that the three Malaysian students questioned by UK police had met the Libyan suicide bomber behind the recent Manchester attack.
Local daily New Straits Times (NST) reportedly said the arrest of the Malaysian students had been blown out of proportion by the UK press.
“I want to make it clear that what was reported in ‘The Times’, that these students may have been involved in certain groups, is not true.
“They have built up a theory that the students may have met the suicide bomber at a mosque and all that. This is not true...we have also interviewed the students and they have said they never met or knew of the suicide bomber,” Rasidi was quoted saying.
Rasidi also criticised the police’s purportedly heavy-handed manner during their raid on the students’ residence in Manchester Monday.
“The police have given an assurance they will compensate the students for any damage caused in the raid,” he was quoted saying.
The high commissioner said that after the May 22 bombing at Manchester Arena during a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande that killed 22 people, the weekly group gatherings at the students’ rented residence could have led their neighbours into thinking that something sinister was going on.
Rasidi said the neighbours may have then called in the police.
“I believe it was all a misunderstanding. Whatever it is, the fact that the students were released (after almost three and a half hours of questioning) shows they are not connected to the terror attack,” he was quoted saying.
The Malaysian students were reportedly involved in an academic discourse group called the Independent School of Thinkers, where they discussed “academic topics”, said Rasidi.
