The five armed Thai Muslim militants who were arrested at Kuala Lumpur's Sentral Station in March are still being held by Malaysian authorities contrary to reports that they had been deported back to Thailand.

According to international weekly Time magazine, the five southern Thais who were nabbed on March 9 were in Malaysia to pick up a cache of arms hidden by Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the regional militant group which was widely blamed for the October 2002 Bali bombings.

"The connection raises its own set of concerns. In particular, analysts say, ties between Thailand and a wider Muslim militancy might signal a new escalation of violence in the south, where more than 600 people have died since the insurgency began in early 2004," said Time magazine in its May 9 issue which hit the streets this week.

The five were apprehended in a secret operation involving scores of security officials at the Sentral rail hub.

Two weeks after the arrests, Reuters news agency, quoting anonymous intelligence sources, reported that the authorities had quietly handed the arrested militants over to Thailand.

However, senior government and police officers have all denied knowledge of the arrests.

Time said that Malaysian police had consistently refused to confirm the arrests publicly, and the head of the force's criminal investigation department, Fauzi Shaari, did not respond to its repeated phone calls seeking an interview on the issue.

"But Malaysian security sources and a regional intelligence official have told Time that the five separatists - who are still under interrogation in Malaysia - were forced to retrieve the arms because intensified security in the Thai south had made it hard to source weapons at home."

Arms conduit

Terror expert Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group told Time that the new revelations was "consistent with what we know from depositions of arrested JI members".

"They were running arms out of southern Thailand, through Malaysia and into Indonesia in 2000 in cooperation with the Thai [insurgents]."

However, Jones had cautioned that this did not necessarily mean that JI - which is believed to have links with international terror group al-Qaeda - is forging new bonds with the Thai separatists.

"It's possible, of course," she said, "but we need more information before we can make a definite judgment."