KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Malaysians have transferred as much as RM50,000 to help militant movements fighting in Syria, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said, adding the funds were solicited via social media.
Singapore’s Straits Times reported Nur Jazlan as telling a security forum in Beijing on Thursday that the emergence of more radical websites and recruitment efforts by these extremist groups have deeply influenced the young, including the unemployed and drug addicts.
“It is interesting to note that unlike previous recruitment which targeted individuals with religious background, current development suggests that people from all kinds of background who are willing to seek a shortcut to heaven are also included.” he was quoted saying.
“They include jobless individuals and drug addicts,” he reportedly told the China-Asean Ministerial Dialogue on Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation.
The Pulai MP said, however, that these terrorism threats are under control in Malaysia, thanks to swift action taken by local authorities in crippling militant activities.
He told the forum that since 2001, local authorities have arrested 391 militants linked to Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Darul Islam, Liberation of Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other groups and that a total of 128 people linked to jihadist activities in Iraq and Syria were among those nabbed.
On September 25, the police arrested three individuals over their suspected involvement in a potential attack on several areas in the city, purportedly by the Islamic State (IS) terror network.
National news agency Bernama quoted Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim as saying that the suspects include one Malaysian, an Indonesian and a Syrian.
