[5] The Special Branch is a department within the Royal Malaysia Police that is responsible for gathering and analyzing intelligence to maintain national security.
[citation needed] E1 - Communism E1 was the main unit under the Special Branch responsible for counterinsurgency operations against underground movements of the Communist Party of Malaya (PKM).
E2 - Extremism E2 supervised and monitored any movements of extreme organizations or groups that could threaten national and domestic security, such as left-wing labor and mass movements, political parties with extremist ideologies, student and university organizations E3 - Logistics E3 was responsible for technical matters such as monitoring, support, and technical administration during operations.
E4 - External Communism This was a crucial unit within the Special Branch, tasked with monitoring the infiltration of foreign communist influences into Malaysia.
The Special Branch's activities during the Emergency were widely praised, garnering accolades such as one calling it "one of the finest establishments of its kind in the world".
[3] Other intelligence agencies sent observers to a Special Branch training centre in the Malayan capital of Kuala Lumpur to learn its tactics of infiltration and espionage.
[citation needed] During the trial, Mohamed Said shed light on the Special Branch's practices — mainly by explaining what was called a "turning-over operation", whereby retractions were obtained.
[citation needed] According to witnesses the incident, Mohd Saat Marjo, 57, who was a neighbour next door told that a UTK armed with automatic weapons, along with members of the Special Branch in plain clothes, stormed the house through two gates which are broken as soon as Mas Selamat refused to come out to surrender even called by the police.
[12] Police also seized a number of JI's documents and confidential planning information and sent Bomb Disposal Unit to ensure that the house was free of any explosives.
[citation needed] In 2019, a national inquiry held by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia's (SUHAKAM) concluded that agents of the Special Branch were responsible for the abduction of Amri Che Mat in 2016 and Raymond Koh in 2017.