Malaysia arrests 15 over links to Islamic State

 

Hanoi (VNA) - Malaysian police said on September 26 that 15 people, mostly Indonesian citizens alleged to have links with the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group, have been arrested.

Malaysian police counter-terrorism chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the suspects were arrested in a series of operations from the mid July 10 to September.

The first case involved a 25-year-old Indonesian palm plantation worker in the state of Sabah in Borneo, who police believe had acted as a facilitator for a family of five that carried out a suicide attack on a church in Jolo, in the southern Philippines in December 2018.

The suspect had also allegedly channeled funds to the Maute group, which seized control of the lakeside town of Marawi in the Philippines for five months in 2017, a conflict that killed over 1,100 people.

Police said they also arrested 13 other Indonesians and a Malaysian in separate raids on suspicion of carrying out activities in support of IS, which included promoting the group's ideology and recruiting new members on social media, with the aim of launching attacks in their two countries.

Police arrested one Indian national separately for being a member of the Sikhs For Justice group that has been outlawed in India. The suspect has since been deported.

Malaysia has arrested hundreds of people in the past few years for suspected militant links./.