Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysia’s police on January 23 arrested four people, including three foreigners, who have connections with a branch in southern Philippines of the self-claimed Islamic State terrorist group.

Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar said in an announcement that the branch operates outside Philippines’ Mindanao province and is led by Mahmud Ahmad, a former university lecturer.

Mahmud Ahmad is also known as a Malaysian member of the IS.

According to Khalid, the branch previously planned to use Sabah state in eastern Malaysia as the transit point for new recruits in Southeast Asia and South Asia who want to join the IS in the Philippines.

One of the four arrested suspects is a Filipino man who was instructed to recruit new members from Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia as well as among Islamic Rohingya ethnics in Myanmar and arrange for them to travel to Mindanao.-VNA