KUALA LUMPUR, October 8 (IslamOnline) - Alleged American “terrorist” Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal surrendered to local police in Malaysia and is likely to be deported back to the United States since his passport has been revoked by the U.S. immigration, news reports said Tuesday, October 8.

Details of his arrest, however, are being withheld pending a police investigation on his suspected network in Kuala Lumpur, The Star newspaper reported.

Bilal heard the news on CNN that he was on a list of suspects handed over by Washington to the Malaysian authorities Sunday, October 6.

“He gave himself up immediately after hearing the news over CNN,” the newspaper said quoting a source from the International Islamic University (IIU) where Bilal was studying.

News that the alleged supporter of the al-Qaeda was studying at the
IIU shocked Malaysian authorities on Friday, sources said. Bilal, 25, was unaware that he was on the list of suspects.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officers had arrested four other Americans allegedly linked to terrorist networks in Oregon and Michigan and said they were looking for Bilal whom they suspect was a member of the cell.

Bilal face virtual deportation since the U.S. authorities has invalidated his passport, the news report said.

However Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in a press statement the Malaysian government would conduct its own investigation first.

“We have ways to handle the problem. That’s why the matter has been referred to the A-G as we don’t have an extradition arrangement with the U.S.

“If we are to hand him over to the U.S., we must know whether or not he is guilty. What right has the U.S. to ask us to surrender him to them? We have to study all this. We always go by the law,” Mahathir told reporters.

He added that Bilal’s parents contacted IIU from Saudi Arabia on Saturday, October 5, and asked him to surrender to the Malaysian authorities, which he did immediately.

“He was confident he was innocent and willingly gave himself up.”

Bilal, a student of African American and Caucasian parentage, has 18 siblings. His father is an English language trainer with Saudi Airlines and his mother a housewife. Prior to this, his father was employed as an English teacher at the American Center in Sudan.

Bilal received his early education in Sudan and Saudi Arabia but had to return to America for his higher education due to the country’s policy of barring non-citizens from entering Saudi universities.