Bukit Aman’s counter-terrorism unit arrested 15 terror suspects who plotted various attacks during GE14. — Picture courtesy of PDRM

KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 1 — Police have nabbed 15 terror suspects who plotted various attacks, including driving into non-Muslim voters during the 14th general election (GE14) and fire-bombing non-Muslim worship places, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said today.

One of the 15 nabbed was a Malaysian secondary school student aged 17, who had plans to carry out attacks as a “lone wolf” using molotov cocktails on entertainment outlets, churches and Hindu temples in Kuala Lumpur.

The student who was arrested on April 20 in Petaling Jaya, Selangor had created six molotov cocktails and tested one of the firebombs in an open area around Damansara Damai in the Selangor suburb.

He was also said to have scouted and recorded the locations of his firebombing targets.

“The suspect had also recorded a warning video to launch the attacks and uploaded the video in three Whatsapp groups and one Telegram group of the Daesh group. That video was uploaded about an hour before the suspect was caught,” he said in a statement, referring to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) by its other name of Daesh.

A Malaysian housewife aged 51 was arrested on May 9 in Puchong, Selangor, over her plans to “launch attacks by using a car to hit non-Muslim voters at polling centres during the 14th general election,” Fuzi said.

“Besides that, the suspect also planned to hit non-Muslim worship places using a car carrying gas cylinders as explosives,” he said.

The 15 suspects were nabbed between March 27 to May 9 by the police’s Special Branch’s counter-terrorism division in a series of operations in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, Kelantan and Sabah.

The terror suspects comprised six Malaysians, two Filipinos with permanent resident status in Malaysia, a married couple from a country in North Africa, a Bangladeshi and four Filipinos.

In the series of arrests, police successfully caught two out of the four individuals wanted for suspected involvement in alleged plots to attack non-Muslim houses of worship as well as to abduct and kill policemen, Fuzi said.

The duo are Nor Farkhan Mohd Isa, who was finalising plans to escape to a neighbouring country but was arrested on April 20 in Johor Baru, and Muhamad Faizal Muhamad Hanafi, who surrendered at the Meranti police station in Pasir Mas, Kelantan on April 23. The two other wanted persons remain at large.

A 41-year-old Bangladeshi who owned a restaurant in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur was arrested on April 2 in the capital city for suspected involvement in smuggling weapons for the use of international terrorists and terrorists listed under Interpol’s Red Notice.

Fuzi also said police in Sabah had on April 24 and April 26 arrested a Malaysian and the six Filipinos, age between 22 to 49, adding that this terror cell was planning to collect firearms in Sabah to wage “jihad” in Marawi City in the Philippines.

As for a 33-year-old Malaysian who previously worked as a cleaner in one of Selangor’s local councils, Fuzi said the suspect had left for Turkey on January 31 and was detained by Turkish authorities over suspicion of planning to slip into Syria to join the IS group.

This suspect was deported from Turkey and subsequently arrested on March 27 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Fuzi said.

On the married couple who are citizens of a North African country and aged 22 and 25, Fuzi said they were on the wanted list due to suspected participation in the IS group.

They slipped into Malaysia on March 16 while on transit to a third country, but were arrested by Malaysian police on April 2 and deported to their home country on April 14.

Fuzi said the Bangladeshi and North African couple were arrested for offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63.

The Malaysians and Filipinos including those with PR status were arrested for suspected offences under the Penal Code’s Chapter VIA covering offences relating to terrorism, and will be probed according to the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.