KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN police have cracked down on an attempt to revive a banned group that falsely offered paramilitary jobs to thousands of recruits in exchange for money, an official said.

Authorities detained six of the group's leaders who were interviewing dozens of recruits at a business centre in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, a federal police official said Monday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to make public statements.

The government banned the group, which calls itself the 'Federal Special Forces of Malaysia', in 2003 because its activities were considered a threat to public security.

Recruits had to pay a fee to join the group. They were then given special uniforms and told they would be working for the government in covert operations to gather security intelligence.

When authorities first discovered the group in 2003, they confiscated a large weapons cache. Investigations showed that the group had collected millions of ringgit from about 8,000 members.

The group is not known to have been involved in any violence, but local media reports in 2003 said the group's top leader told members he aspired to become prime minister some day.

It was not immediately clear how many members the group now has.

Police learned of the effort to revive the group after a man lodged a complaint that he had been cheated of his money.

Officials have classified the current case as a cheating offence, which generally carries a maximum five-year prison sentence and a fine. -- AP