Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today he did not intervene in the arrest of five staff of The Malaysian Insider (TMI) news portal.

As the minister, he did not interfere in the directives issued by the police, he said.

"Matters pertaining to operations are under the jurisdiction of certain departments.

"In this matter, the action taken by the police is an operational one arising probably from the police report made on behalf of the Conference of Rulers," he told reporters at the lobby of Parliament House.

READ: Remand application for TMI editors rejected, trio to be freed today

The police today arrested two more staff of the news portal to help in the investigation into the report allegedly linking the Conference of Rulers to the issue of the proposed implementation of the hudud law in PAS-led Kelantan.

The arrest of the two staff brings to five the number of TMI staff held over the matter.

READ: TMI chief executive and The Edge publisher arrested for sedition

Three TMI staff were arrested at their office in Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, yesterday over the recent report which is alleged to have been of a seditious nature.

Ahmad Zahid, who is the MP for Bagan Datoh, denied that the arrests were harsh action against press freedom.