KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police said they arrested nine people Monday under a security law on suspicion of involvement in a terror group with overseas links.

National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said the nine, aged from 22 to 55, were arrested near the capital Kuala Lumpur and in the northern state of Kedah bordering Thailand.

They were held on suspicion of being “involved in a militant group that is responsible for planning terror acts in and outside the country,” Khalid said in a statement.

He added they were believed to have links to terrorists abroad, and some of them allegedly held “a secret meeting to strengthen their militant ideology, raise funds and undergo military training in preparation to commit acts of terror.” The statement gave no further details.

A source familiar with the arrests said those detained were Malaysians but not linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant group, or to the disappearance of flight MH370.

The source did not elaborate.

Malaysia has not been the target of any notable terror attacks in recent years. But it has been home to several suspected key figures in militant groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group has been blamed for a number of attacks in the region — the deadliest being the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

Meanwhile, Australia’s prime minister Monday announced an expanded search across a huge swathe of seabed where MH370 might have crashed, admitting it is now “highly unlikely” any surface wreckage will be found.

“I regret to say that thus far, none of our efforts in the air, on the surface, or undersea have found any wreckage,” Tony Abbott said.

He added it was now “highly unlikely” authorities would find surface debris, noting that an area of more than 4.5 million square kilometers had been scanned from the air. “By this stage, 52 days into the search, most material would have become waterlogged and sunk.”