The whereabouts of American terrorist suspect Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal remain a mystery although Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has confirmed his arrest.

While the police are keeping mum, a US embassy official hinted at arrangements for the deportation of Ahmed on the strength of the revocation of his passport.

Police started hunting late last week for Ahmed, a US citizen, after an alert was issued by American officials that he is wanted for allegedly conspiring to wage war against the US.

Ahmed, 25, arrived in Malaysia in January and registered to study for a degree in Quran Sunnah in April this year at the International Islamic University's (IIUM) campus in Gombak, Selangor.

Contradictory statements

Attempts to confirm details of Ahmed's arrest ran into a wall as different authorities gave varying accounts of events leading up to last Sunday, when the student was purportedly handed over to police.

A spokesperson from the Bukit Aman police headquarters initially confirmed that Ahmed was in police custody.

"He was handed over to police by IIUM security officials (to whom he surrendered)," said a police spokesperson who declined to be named when contacted.

"We do not have much information now at headquarters we do not know yet where he is being held. This is also more complicated because the issue involves government policy," he said.

However, Bernama reported today that IIUM acting rector Prof Ismawi Zain had denied the handover, as reported in today's The Star.

Bernama also quoted Ismawi as saying that the university had only conveyed a message to Ahmed from his father, advising him to surrender to the government.

He did say that Ahmed had agreed to abide by his father's advise, but that he did not surrender to IIUM.

Contacted later, another Bukit Aman spokesperson said that he could not confirm the earlier comments from his office.

"We have not confirmed Ahmed's arrest. We do not know where he is," said public relations officer Shamsuddin Ali.

"If he is going to be arrested, he will be considered an illegal immigrant since his passport has been revoked."

Gombak police chief Masari Hashim also said Ahmed was not in the district headquarters' custody although the IIUM campus falls under his jurisdiction.

"We do not know anything about it. We do not know who arrested him," he said.

Conspiracy against US

Meanwhile, US Press Officer Frank Whitaker said in a statement that "we are working with the Malaysian authorities to process his deportation".

"The US embassy is extremely pleased that Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal is in the custody of the Royal Malaysian Police and we extend our gratitude to the Malaysian government for their assistance in his arrest," he said.

"This is yet another sign of Malaysia's continuous and strong support of the international war against terrorism."

He confirmed that Ahmed's passport had been revoked and that US authorities had asked the Malaysian government for assistance in returning Ahmed to the US to face charges of "being part of a suspected terrorist cell that engaged in a conspiracy to join al-Qaeda and Taliban forces fighting against the US and allied soldiers in Afghanistan".

He earlier said a circular from Washington described Ahmed as a wanted man, as "he trained to travel to Taliban-controlled areas to help in the resistance".

"(Since) his visa had been revoked, which essentially makes him an illegal immigrant in Malaysia, this will make it easier for Malaysia to deport him to the US," he said.

He added that the authorities were unsure if Ahmed had travelled to any other country prior to arriving in Malaysia.

According to Bernama, the police had received a warrant of arrest against Ahmed from the US authorities along with a summary of charges and a statement that his passport had been revoked.