KUALA LUMPUR: Two men, including a private school religious teacher, were arrested for suspected involvement with terrorism activities.
It was learnt that duo had planned to launch attacks against entertainment outlets and at the Federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun in a statement today said the 25-year-old religious teacher was detained in Petaling Jaya on Dec 23 last year and a 23-year-old Indonesian construction worker was nabbed here last Wednesday.
The duo, who believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State (IS), were arrested by the Federal police Special Branch’s Counter-Terrorism Division in two special operations.
“First suspect was a teacher at a private religious school in Subang Jaya. He was arrested under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 in Nov 9, 2015 and had served 18 months in jail.
“He re-joined IS after his release and had planned to launch attacks against entertainment outlets in Klang Valley.
“He had also planned to rob, kidnap or kill non-Muslims based on his understanding that non-Muslims in Malaysia are ‘kafir harbi’ (non-believers who are against Islam) and their blood is halal (lawful) to be shed,” Fuzi said.
The teacher also actively promoting IS’s Salafi jihadism ideology on his Facebook account to recruit new members.
He was also found to have befriended former IS militant members and senior members of the Malaysian Militant Group who had been arrested under Internal Security Act 1960.
Fuzi said the Indonesian construction worker had planned to launch attacks against the Bukit Aman and Travers police stations in order to steal firearms from these locations.
“He had also intended to seize firearms from other police stations and army camps to be used in attacks in Malaysia and Indonesia.
“In November last year, the suspect was found loitering around Jalan Pudu area armed with a knife. He had planned to kill a monk as retaliation against the cruelty of the Myanmar government against the Rohingya.
“His plan was thwarted and police seized a knife from him during inspections,” he said.
The suspect had pledged his allegiance with a IS senior militant member via Whatsapp and has been trying to recruit Indonesians to join IS.
Fuzi added, to prove that IS was still active in Malaysia, the suspect had displayed an IS flag at the construction site where he worked.