KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 ― In a simultaneous sting across three states last Friday, counter-terrorism police arrested eight Malaysian men suspected linked to violent militant groups Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS).

The men, aged between 22 and 36, were picked up from various locations in Selangor, Perak and Johor and are currently held under the Security Measures Act (Special Measures) 2012 (Sosma), a law that allows for detentions without trial for up to 28 days.

Two of the men, aged 28, are government servants believed to belong to the same IS cell as two other suspects that had been nabbed earlier on August 19, ostensibly for spreading the global terror group’s ideology, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abu Bakar Khalid said in a statement today.

The other four men arrested in the last operation are said to be the remnants of a local branch of Al Qaeda known as Tandzim Al Qaeda Malaysia, that had escaped a previous police operation in February 2013.

Former military personnel, Yazid Sufaat, was the first Malaysian to be held under the controversial anti-terrorism law drawn up as a replacement for the highly-criticised Internal Security Act (ISA) that has since been abolished.

Now aged 51, the biochemistry graduate from the California State University has since been charged under the Penal Code with attempted to recruit new members for his al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group and to be jihadists in Syria.

Under Section 130G(a) of the Penal Code, which covers the offence of inciting and promoting the commission of a terrorist act, Yazid stands to spend up to 30 years behind bars and be fined  if found guilty.

The trial is ongoing.

Two other Malaysians, cafeteria worker Muhammad Hilmi and religious teacher Halimah Hussein have also been similarly charged with abetting Yazid, though Halimah has since jumped her bail.