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KUALA LUMPUR: A man detained by the police had been planning to assassinate a number of former leaders, including Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Lim Guan Eng, as well as former attorney general Tommy Thomas.
The suspect was detained by the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division (E8) in January, along with five other men who supported the Islamic State (IS).
E8 Deputy Deputy Director Senior Asst Comm Azman Omar said the suspect admitted wanting to launch lone attacks on former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir and former Finance Minister Lim Thomas and even former Minister of Religious Affairs Datuk Seri Dr. Mujahid Yusof Rawa.
“During questioning, the suspect admitted that he planned to stab them with a knife or a sharp object,” he said.
SAC Azman added that the planned lone wolf attacks were meant to be a sign of support for the Islamic State.
In August last year, he said, Singapore police also arrested a Malaysian working in the republic.
The suspect, who was involved in financing militant activities and planned to go to Syria, was later turned over to the Malaysian police.
He said police made seven of those arrests last year.
“This is a significant drop as more than 10 militants were arrested the previous year, while in 2018 we made 109 arrests.
“The police have yet to make such arrests this year,” SAC Azman said yesterday at an online forum organized by Malaysia’s International Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies.
The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent border closures have also affected terrorist groups, he said.
“When border controls were tightened, it was really difficult for terrorist groups to penetrate the country,” he added.
SAC Azman said that the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Banghdadi has also sent the terror group into a downward spiral.
The killing of several prominent Malaysian militants in Syria, including the notorious Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, led to a decline in support for the terror group.
“Wanndy was killed by an American drone strike in Syria in 2017. It definitely affected the morale of Malaysian terrorist fighters in Syria,” he said.
SAC Azman said there are currently 56 Malaysian foreign terrorist fighters in Syria.
“They are made up of 19 men, 12 women and 25 children. They are being held in prisons in Syria, ”he said.
While the number of arrests of militants in Malaysia has dropped significantly, it does not mean that the terrorist threat has similarly decreased, SAC Azman emphasized.
“We are always on guard against any potential threat to the country,” he said, adding that 5,558 people have been arrested since 2013 for alleged involvement in the Islamic State.
While most of the detainees have completed their prison sentences, SAC Azman said E8 was still monitoring them regularly to make sure they did not return to the lives of militants.
“In fact, they are also required to go through a rehabilitation program while serving their sentences in prison or detention centers. It is preparing them to return to society in general, ”he said.
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