Yazid Sufaat and his alleged track of terror

Yazid Sufaat, who was arrested together with two others for their alleged involvement in promoting terrorism, has been linked to terrorist activities in the past.

The trio, who were arrested in Kajang by police on Thursday, are believed to be the mastermind in recruiting several locals for terrorist activities.

Born on January 20, 1964 in Johor, Yazid received his degree in biochemistry from California State University, Sacramento in 1987 before serving as medical technician in Malaysian army (ranked as a Captain).

In 1993, he set up a pathology laboratory called Green Laboratory Medicine and he was believed to have been affiliated with Al-Qaeda as an anthrax researcher.

In 2000, there was majorAl-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) meeting in Kuala Lumpur to which four people who attended the meeting had stayed with Yazid at his home.

He has also been alleged to provide lodging for two of the September 11 hijackers, Khalid Al-Midhar and Nawaf Al-Hazmi and providing working documents for Zacarias Moussaoui.

Through his laboratory, Yazid acquired four tonnes of ammonium nitrate for JI/MILF bomb-maker Fathur Rahman Al-Ghozi.

The intention was to create bombing spree in Singapore but the plot was discovered by the authorities and Fathur managed to escape arrest in Singapore in December 2001 but was captured in Phillipines a month later.

During the September 11 tragedy, Yazid was in Afghanistan and fled to Malaysia via Pakistan.

He was soon arrested in Malaysia in December 2001 and was wanted by United States for his links to the tragedy.

His assets was frozen by the US government on September 5, 2003.

During that time, he was already detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) but was freed in December 2008.