IGP: Police detain five on terrorism, immigration charges

The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) have detained five individuals including three foreigners suspected of being involved in terrorist activities in operations in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Perak and Sabah.

Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun (above) said in a statement that all the suspects were detained by the PDRM Special Branch Counter Terrorism (E8) division from Oct 13 to 26.

According to him, the first suspect, a 50-year-old Egyptian was an executive manager in a company in Kuala Lumpur who was arrested on Oct 13.

"The suspect was a former member of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group in Afghanistan from 1988 to 1993. He had met the Al-Qaeda terrorist group leader Osama Laden and had also been arrested and jailed in Canada and Egypt," he said.

He said the second arrest was conducted at the KL International Airport on Oct 20, involving a jobless 31-year-old Arab man.

The suspect was involved in a murder threat case against a foreign diplomat in the capital. 

He said the third arrest in Setiawan, Perak on Oct 25 involved a 31-year-old Pakistani man.

The suspect was involved in a Lashkar-E-Taiba terrorist group based in a country in South Asia and had infiltrated into the country in August 2016.

Mohamad Fuzi said a 32-year-old woman working in a private company was also arrested in Gombak on the same day the third suspect was arrested.

"The woman was involved in channelling funds to Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi (a Malaysian who joined Daesh terrorist group in Syria) between 2014 and 2017 for terrorist activity.

The last suspect was a 40-year-old local man who was detained in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on Oct 26, he said.

"The fifth suspect who works as a service manager at a telecommunications company was also involved in channelling funds to Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi and the Abu Sayyaf group in southern Philippines from 2015 to 2018 for the purpose of financing terrorism activities," he said. 

Four of the suspects were arrested on suspicion of committing offences relating to terrorism, under the Penal Code (Act 574) and was investigated in accordance with the procedure under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Act 747), while the second suspect was arrested under the Immigration Act 1959/1963.

- Bernama