Zahid: 115 individuals link with terrorism arrested this year

KUALA LUMPUR: The authorities have arrested a total of 115 individuals linked with terrorism this year and the majority was related to the global terrorist group Islamic State (IS).
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pix) said the arrests of the individuals were made since early this year until Oct 7.
"Of the total arrested, 110 individuals were involved with Daesh (IS) group activities, one individual was a member of al-Qaeda / Jabhat Al Nusra, and the rest with other groups," Ahmad Zahid said in a written reply to a question from Ismail Daut (BN-Merbok) who asked the ministry to state the number of people arrested and action taken for alleged involvement with terrorism activities.
On the actions taken against those arrested, Ahmad Zahid said the cases of 55 of them are currently in the prosecution process.
He also said action was taken against 13 individuals under the Prevention of Terorrism Act and four under the Prevention of Crime Act.
The rest were either under investigation, released or banish expelled, he said.
In another reply, Ahmad Zahid said a total of 105 cases for murder involving firearms were recorded between 2014 and September this year.
He added another 117 cases of attempted murder involving firearms were recorded in the same period, while another 27 cases involved armed robbery.