KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 ― The text message warning Christmas shoppers of Islamic State (IS) terrorist attacks during the year end festivities is a hoax, the police clarified today.
According to the police, the text message was spread by “irresponsible parties” and was meant to terrify the public.
“PDRM wishes to advise the public to not easily believe baseless information,” the police said, using its Malay initials.
“An anger without reason will only bring fear in public to go through their daily lives, until affecting the quality of daily life,” added ACP Datik Asmawati Ahmad, who handles the police’s corporate communication, in a statement.
The police also advised the public to not share and spread such unconfirmed information, which it said would only create unnecessary panic.
The text message had warned its recipients to keep away from shopping malls and crowded areas during Christmas and the New Year, claiming that the warning had come from Putrajaya and was “not a joke”.
The message also claimed that the attacks might be retaliation from IS as the police has been arresting its members.
In August, Malaysian police said they foiled a plot for a wave of bombings against pubs, discos, and a Malaysian brewery of Danish beer producer Carlsberg, drawn up by radical Islamic militants inspired by the Islamic State group.
