Senior Malaysian government officials were in the dark over a Time magazine report that five armed Thai Muslim militants were arrested in Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago.

Deputy Home Minister Tan Chai Ho and Internal Security Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Abu Seman Yusop both said they had no information over the arrest, when asked about the claim at the Parliament lobby today.

Meanwhile, Reuters today reported that the authorities had quietly handed the arrested militants over to Thailand.

"Five Thais were arrested on March 9 and have been sent back to Thailand," the intelligence source was quoted as saying.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan had denied the report and said there was no such incident to his knowledge.

"I have checked with my officers. There is nothing on this so far," he said.

According to the latest issue of international weekly Time , the five were nabbed on March 9 in a secret operation involving scores of security officials at the Kuala Lumpur Sentral rail hub.

"Perhaps in an indication of the sensitivity of the arrests, Malaysian police spokesmen denied they had taken place. But Time confirmed the incident with two Malaysian intelligence officials familiar with the case," read the report.

It is unclear what the group had intended to do in Kuala Lumpur, the kind of weapons they were carrying, and whether others had slipped through the purported security net.

Angry militants

However, the report said Malaysia's action in preventing southern Thai rebels from slipping over the border might have angered the militants.

"We were safe when Malaysia was seen as a place to hide... But now we are arresting militants, and they are angry," the report quoted an unnamed Malaysian intelligence officer as saying.

On the night of the purported arrests, an explosion had occurred outside the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. The police later ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack.

The next day, the US Embassy said in an advisory to US citizens in Malaysia that it had been warned by the Malaysian government of an "anonymous, unverified threat" in the city centre.

But the government denied that it had warned the embassy of a security threat and said it could have been an attempt to undermine foreign confidence in the country.