KUALA LUMPUR: The presence of Daesh in Malaysia remains small as the country continues to restrict the group’s recruitment drive and terror plots across the country and southeast Asia, officials told Arab News on Sunday.
“There are pockets of them here and there, most of which are at the infant stage,” Abdul Hamid Bador, Malaysia’s inspector general of police, said in light of the recent arrest of 15 alleged Daesh-linked terrorists by the Royal Malaysia Police on Friday.
The alleged terrorists comprised three Malaysians and 12 Indonesians. They were captured between July 10 and Sept. 25 this year in seven states: Sabah, Selangor, Johore, Kuala Lumpur, Sarawak, Penang and Pahang.
Bador said that the presence of Daesh-inspired elements in Malaysia is small and that only one group is reported to have a link with the Indonesian chapter.
One of the counterterrorism operations targeted one Malaysian and 10 Indonesians, including an Indonesian woman aged between 22 and 36, who were suspected of establishing a “new Daesh branch” by engaging members on social media with their ideology.
Malaysian authorities managed to crack down on the alleged online recruitment drive, as well as several planned attacks in Malaysia and Indonesia.
“They were planning to launch attacks in Malaysia and Indonesia once they had recruited enough members,” a statement released by the Royal Malaysia Police read.
Another arrest involved a 25-year-old Indonesian palm oil estate worker in Sabah who had “pledged his allegiance” to Daesh leader Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi, officials said.
The Indonesian suspect, with two Malaysians aged between 21 and 26, had allegedly also facilitated an Indonesian family to carry out a suicide attack on a church in Jolo, southern Philippines in December 2018.
Furthermore, they were suspected of raising funds for Maute, a terror group based in southern Philippines, as well as planning to fight in Syria.
All of the suspects were detained under Malaysia’s anti-terrorism laws, with local media reporting that Daesh terrorists in Malaysia were enticing new members using extremist teachings.
“I don’t know about Indonesia, but for Malaysia, the motive is to avenge its defeat in Iraq and Syria and thus to prove that Daesh is not dead,” Bador said.
Growing radicalism and attempted attacks in Malaysia reflect the current trend among local terrorists looking to commit acts of terrorism in their home country.
To date, 457 militants have been arrested in Malaysia since 2013 with the police successfully foiling 25 terrorist attempts in the country.
