‘Militant luring local IS sympathisers’

KUALA LUMPUR: The Counter-Terrorism Division of the Special Branch has revealed that an Indonesian militant in Syria has been luring Malaysian Islamic State (IS) sympathisers to launch attacks here.
Division head DCP Datuk Ayub Khan Mydin Pitchay said the militant, identified as Bahrum Shah, has been ordering attacks on entertainment outlets, government offices and security forces.
“Bahrum is a self-radicalised individual, and logs on to social media to be active,” he told reporters when met at the sidelines of the International Association for Counter-Terrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP) Asean Security Symposium and Awards here, today.
He said police were also concerned as Bahrum has a lot of funds.
“If you have funds, you can launch large attacks. If you look at Al-Qaeda previously, the money that came into Malaysia from Afghanistan was used to finance the Bali bombings.
“If money comes in from Syria, in the short-term, they will launch a big attack. That is what we are concerned about,” he said, adding that police will have to cut funding channels to stop terrorists from regrouping.
Ayob Khan also pointed out the importance of intelligence sharing among regional and international enforcement agencies to prevent “lone-wolf” attacks by IS militants.
“Effective collaboration and intelligence information received from all concerned succeeded in preventing three individuals from carrying out attacks.The lone-wolf attacks are rather difficult to detect if there is no intelligence report,” he said referring to the arrests of three young men since 2013 for planning attacks in the country.
In the latest arrest on Aug 13, a 17-year-old youth was detained in Sabah for planning to carry out lone-wolf attacks in Sandakan after receiving instructions from IS members in Syria.
Between Aug 27 and 29, three terror suspects were arrested after they had hatched a plan to pull off terror attacks on Merdeka eve based on instructions from Muhammad Wanndy Mohammad Jedi@ Abu Hamzah, a Malaysian who is currently serving IS in Syria.
Muhammad Wanndy is also believed to have masterminded the June 28 grenade attack at the Movida pub in Puchong, Selangor that injured eight patrons.
Ayub Khan said intelligence information had confirmed that three Malaysian nationals who were suicide bombers, Hassan Zakaria, Abu Salim and Muhammad Izzul Imam Mohd Isa, were killed in Syria last week.
He said police intelligence has identified 90 Malaysians who are active in militant groups in Syria and Iraq.
“Twenty-four of these individuals were reportedly killed, including those involved in militant groups as suicide bombers,” he added.