KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian who was suspected of foreign terror activity nabbed during an Interpol operation in Southeast Asia has been charged with involvement with the Islamic State on May 3.
Nur Afiqah Farhanah Samsudim was among 17 people arrested by Interpol in the organisation’s Southeast Asian operation between March 28 and April 5.
The 26-year-old has been deported back here from Turkey, where she was arrested while attempting to enter Syria.
Upon arrival, she was detained by the Malaysian police.
Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division principal assistant director Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said Afiqah had been charged under Section 130JA for supporting terrorist group, read together with Section 511 of the Penal Code for her attempt to enter Syria.
Codenamed “Operation Sunbird III”, the operation involved police, immigration and maritime authorities from all 10 Asean countries.
Aimed to enhance cooperation between law enforcement agencies against terror suspects and criminals across Asean countries, passports were screened against Interpol’s global databases at 35 land, air and sea border points.
Some eight million searches were conducted during the operation, resulting in 17 arrests and 110 “hits” on passports recorded in Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database.