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Indonesian militant in Syria ordering attacks in Malaysia
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Members of the National Police's anti terror squad Densus 88 raided a house of one of alleged terrorists in Cluster Sakura Botania housing in Batam, Riau Islands province on Aug. 5. Densus 88 arrested six people allegedly members of Khatibah Rahmat Dewa terror cell linked to Islamic State terrorist group who suspected to plot an attack to Singapore. (Antara/M. N. Kanwa)
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alaysia's counter-terrorism body says that militant Bahrum Shah was found to have been ordering attacks on certain Western interests, the government and security forces.
Malaysian police are concerned that an Indonesian militant in Syria has been instigating Malaysian sympathizers of Islamic State (IS) to attack selective targets in the country.
The Counter-Terrorism Division of the Special Branch in Bukit Aman said that militant Bahrum Shah was found to have been ordering attacks on certain Western interests, the government and security forces.
Its division head DCP Ayob Khan said this in his keynote address at the IACSP Asean Security Symposium on Tuesday.
DCP Ayub later told reporters that the police were concerned over the matter as Bahrum has a lot of funds.
"When you have funds you can launch attacks on a big scale. If you look at al-Qaeda previously, the money that came into Malaysia from Afghanistan was used to finance the Bali bombings.
"If money comes in from Syria, in the short-term, they will launch a big attack. That is what we are worried about. We have to cut their channels," he said.
According to a report by The Jakarta Post, Bahrum Shah is believed to be the commander of Katibah Nusantara, the joint group of Indonesian and Malaysian IS fighters formed in late 2014.
DCP Ayob also named Bahrun Naim and Abu Jandal as two more Indonesian militants who were ordering attacks in the region.
Malaysia has not been spared by IS, with police saying that a bombing at the Movida night club in June was the first ever successful IS attack here.
DCP Ayob added that 13 plots of terror attacks by IS in Kuala Lumpur had failed, with seven of them being ordered from Syria.
Since February 2013, Malaysian police have arrested 239 people for terrorism related activities.
