KUALA LUMPUR, MARCH 24 — Police have arrested a former civil servant and a housewife for suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, The Star reported today.

The 29-year-old former civil servant from Sabah was detained on March 19 whilst returning from abroad.

According to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, the man left his post in December 2012.

He then went to a neighbouring country last month, where he obtained a forged passport.

He was arrested as he was trying to re-enter Malaysia using the forged passport, The Star reported Khalid as saying.

“He also had connections with Malaysian militants in Syria,” said Khalid, who added that the former civil servant is suspected of being a recruiter for IS.

Khalid also said the police detained a 28-year-old housewife as she was attempting to fly to a neighbouring country from KL International Airport before then making her way to Syria to join IS.

“We are investigating her role in the local militant network,” he said.

These arrests are the latest in a string of IS-related incidents in recent times.

On February 20, a 14-year-old schoolgirl from Muar was arrested at Kuala Lumpur International Airport whilst trying to travel to Syria to join IS.

On February 13, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that IS militants were planning to kidnap Chinese tycoons and hold them for ransom and to rob banks to fund their militant activities.

Since February last year, the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division has arrested 51 suspected Malaysian militants.

IS is a jihadist militant group that uses brutal tactics such as murder and beheadings in Syria and Iraq, and which states its goal as the establishment of an Islamic caliphate purportedly based on Shariah law.

The group is categorised as a terrorist organisation by Malaysia and many other countries.