KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 ― Police are currently on the trail of 63 Malaysians they have identified as Islamic State (IS) recruits who have gone to join the ongoing conflict in Syria, according to a report today.
Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division director Senior Assistant Commissioner Datuk Ayub Khan Mydin Pitchay was quoted by English daily the New Straits Times as saying that the suspects are among more than 80 Malaysians believed to have joined the militant group.
“54 of the 63 are men and the government can only monitor them closely from here.
“Police will take the necessary action once we are ready,” he told a news conference in Kelantan, after attending a forum on militancy there.
Last weekend, police arrested 12 people, including a 17-year-old boy, who were on their way up to Gunung Nuang, supposedly to test homemade bombs that would be used in car bombs or suicide attacks.
Police believe the mastermind was among those arrested during the two-day operation in several parts of Hulu Langat in Selangor, Cheras and Kuala Lumpur.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said police seized bomb-making materials, including 20kg of ammonium nitrate and 20kg of potassium nitrate — key ingredients to make explosives.
Other items confiscated were two litres of kerosene, two remote controls, a motor alarm, different types of wires, four 9-volt batteries, a digital scale, two measuring devices, three PVC pipes, an IS flag and other tools to make explosives.
Khalid said the men were acting in retaliation against the police clampdown on IS and they would be investigated under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).
Since February last year, the division has arrested 107 suspected Malaysian militants.
