249 arrested on suspicion of recruiting terrorists

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 249 local and foreign individuals suspected of recruiting members for terrorism through social media have been arrested so far.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Masir Kujat said 240 of these individuals carried out their modus operandi through Facebook, eight through Twitter and another one through Instagram.

“The arrests were made as a result of police intelligence and monitoring by the Counter Messaging Centre.

“Some 3,871 Facebook accounts were also monitored while 800 accounts were blocked; on Twitter, 76 individuals were monitored and nine accounts blocked while on Instagram, 72 individuals are being monitored,” he told the Dewan Rakyat sitting here yesterday.

He was replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Shabudin Yahaya (BN-Tasek Gelugor) on the government’s efforts to curb the spread of terrorism on social media.

Earlier when replying to Shabudin’s original question, Masir said, to date 19 individuals, including a foreigner was currently undergoIng a deradicalisation programme under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015 (POTA).

“The deradicalisation is systematically implemented using an integrated deradicalisation module for terrorists covering aspects of religious, civic, psychology, family and moral values.

“The success of this programme will soon be seen as the released prisoners will return to the community and be no longer involved with terrorism,” he said.

To ensure the programme is successful, he said the programme module was constantly reviewed and improved from time to time, including cooperation with international parties through conferences and meetings to raise awareness and curb terrorism.