Police On High Alert As IS Recruits Make Plans To Rob Banks And Kidnap Malaysian VIPs
Malaysians supporting the Islamic State have passed the first stage of recruitment and training new members. Now in their second stage, they plan to take their extremist ideas much further.
By Anabelle Ong — 21 May 2015, 03:21 PM
Police are on high alert after it emerged that Islamic State (IS) militants may be planning bank heists as well as to kidnap Malaysian dignitaries for ransom to finance their activities
The militants are also believed to be planning to attack police stations and army camps to obtain more weapons. Kuala Lumpur police chief Tajuddin Md Isa said the militants were also targeting locations with a concentration of foreigners as well as strategic government buildings including offices in Putrajaya.
malaysiakini.com“A study showed that the IS struggle has passed the first level of recruitment and training of new members, and is now entering the second level (kidnapping and robbery),” he said. Tajuddin was addressing city police at the KL police chief monthly assembly at Dataran Kawad today.
thestar.com.myHe advised the police force particularly department heads, district police chiefs and police station chiefs to remain alert against potential threats. Mr Tajuddin added that the police have already moved to tighten security around potential ISIS targets.
It is also believed that Malaysians who have been drawn to IS are convinced that the war between Syria and Iraq is apocalyptic
“Monitoring by the government showed that the Malaysians who were drawn to go to Syria and Iraq had been influenced by the Islamic State claim that the war in Syria and Iraq was an apocalyptic war,” said Kuala Lumpur police chief Tajuddin Md Isa, adding that police were raising security in the vulnerable areas.
On 20 May, six people were charged for planning to launch terrorist attacks using homemade bombs. It was alleged that they were targetting Putrajaya and other governmental buildings in Klang Valley.
A dozen people were arrested last month on suspicion of planning bomb attacks in the Klang Valley, adding to the 95 already detained over the past two years.
Reports said the federal police's counter-terrorism division detained 11 men at the foothills of Hutan Lipur Gunung Nuang in Hulu Langat, Selangor state, while they were mixing chemicals to make improvised explosive devices. A senior leader of the cell was later arrested at his home.
Six of the 12 were charged in court on 20 May with plotting terror attacks using the materials they were mixing, said to be enough to cause a blast with a 500m radius. Along with the arrests, the police had also seized Islamic State flags and various bomb-making materials.
They were allegedly planning to launch an attack on the country’s administrative capital, Putrajaya, police sources said. Other targets included buildings in Jalan Duta and Bukit Perdana where the Kuala Lumpur court complex, Bukit Aman Commercial Crimes Investigation Department and other government facilities are located.
Bukit Aman’s Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division detaining 11 men at the foothills of Hutan Lipur Gunung Nuang on April 25, 2015.
Image via Straits Times/The Star