Police said they had arrested three men, including two of their own officers, over a weapons heist at a police camp in Terengganu.

"We have solved the case," Terengganu police chief Hussin Ismail told AFP . "We have arrested two police personnel and one member of the public."

The officers were from the Kubang Badak police camp where the theft took place early Saturday. Police recovered all the stolen arms and ammunition.

The heist, in which 21 guns and some 645 rounds of ammunition were stolen, was the third such raid in recent years, heightening fears of militant activity after a Muslim cult stole weapons in 2000.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said it was a relief the weapons had been recovered, but that authorities had to prevent similar security breaches.

"Action taken must be able to prevent a recurrence of such incidents," he was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.

Abdullah, who was in Terengganu for a separate event and had earlier visited the police camp, said authorities were still investigating motives for the theft.

"There is still no final information to ascertain the motive," he said.

Hussin earlier dismissed any suggestion of militant activity, saying the thieves had intended to sell the weapons which included 19 Smith and Wesson revolvers and two pistols, a Browning and a Steyr.

"No. It's more for monetary gain ... there is no indication, no connection whatsoever with other things," Hussin said, although the police investigations were ongoing.

Guns found in Malacca

Police said the weapons and ammunition were found on Sunday morning on the other side of the country, in Malacca on the southwestern coast.

Malacca police chief Ayob Mohamed said the cache was in a canvas travelling bag left at the gate of a remote police state.

"They were in a travelling bag. It's a normal canvas bag with a zip and no brand. It was right in front of the gate of that police station," Ayob told

He said all the weapons had been checked and accounted for.

Security forces had set up road blocks in northeastern Malaysia and at the Thai border early Sunday following the heist at the camp just outside the state capital Kuala Terengganu.

The New Straits Times said the thieves entered the weapons store by cutting a hole in the fence and left behind assault rifles and flare grenades which were locked inside steel cabinets.

The weapons theft was the third of its kind in Malaysia since 2000 and raised memories of a bloody hostage drama involving Islamic militants.

In July 2000, 15 men from the shadowy al-Ma'unah Muslim cult, wearing military uniforms, broke into two army camps in the northern state of Perak and stole more than 100 assault rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and bullets.

They took four hostages, torturing and killing two, before they surrendered after a five-day siege.

In February 2001, four masked men attacked a police station in northern Kedah state in another suspected attempt to steal weapons which was foiled in a shootout with police in which two officers were wounded.