Sikhs were initially sent to British Malaya as political prisoners. The first few Sikhs to arrive in British Malaya were Nihal Singh (better known as Bhai Maharaj Singh) and Khurruck Singh, who were deported from India due to anti-British involvement in 1849. These prisoners were sent to the Outram Road prison in what is now Singapore. In 1865, Sikhs were sent to Malaysia again as recruits in the armed forces in the British Empire mainly as police, military and guards.[citation needed] Before the British penal colony in the Singapore Straits Settlement closed in 1873, Sikh convicts discharged from it may have settled in Malaya in the years prior to its closing.