KUALA LUMPUR: Although it was not in the hands of police to bring Malaysians who were involved in Islamic State militant activities back to the country, efforts have been made efforts to influence them to come back, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar (pic).

“We always put in our best efforts to assist those who are already in Syria or Iraq and to try influence them to abandon their belief or ideology. But this is an ideological problem.

“If they still believe in the wrong beliefs (benda tak betul), how can we bring them back?” he told reporters here n Wednesday when asked whether there were any efforts taken by police to bring back Malaysian children who were reportedly groomed to be fighters in the terror group.

“So what we are doing now is to prevent those who have plans to go there (Iraq and Syria),” he told reporters after attending the Asean Chief of Police (Aseanapol) duty handover ceremony.

It was reported that intelligence reports have revealed that at least eight Malaysian children are being groomed to be fighters in the Islamic State.