Security screening will be conducted on foreign students applying to pursue studies in Perlis, state police chief Noor Mushar Mohamed said today.

Noor Mushar said the decision was made following the arrest of foreign students at an Islamic religious centre recently who were found to have entered the country on tourist visa.

By entering the country using tourist visas, it would be difficult to detect their real intention of studying at the religious centre in the state, he told reporters after accompanying Deputy Home Minister Mohd Azis Jamman during a visit at the construction site of the new Perlis police contingent headquarters.

Noor Mushar said operation at an Islamic religious institution in Bukit Jerneh, Kangar, had been temporarily suspended to facilitate screening by the police on all the students there, comprising 119 foreigners and 25 locals.

On Sept 24, Bukit Aman's Counter-Terrorism Division detained eight people for alleged terrorist activities, with six of them students at the religious institution in Perlis.

- Bernama