Abu Sayyaf man among 7 held over plans to attack houses of worship

KUALA LUMPUR: Six local men were among seven individuals who were detained by the police on suspicion of planning attacks on non-Muslim houses of worship and kidnap, as well as murder of members of the police force.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said all the suspects were arrested by the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division in operations conducted between Feb 27 and March 15 this year.

He said three of the men – two of them aged 49 and the other, aged 30– who were arrested in Johor last Feb 27, were planning to flee to a neighbouring country and seek protection from a terrorist group in the country concerned after the planned attack.

He said the first suspect, a technician at a private company, was believed to be the master-mind for the attacks on non-Muslim houses of worship in Johor Bahru, Johor, and was active in recruiting new members to join the terrorist group.

“The second suspect is a security guard and acts as the adviser for the cell. His job is to ensure cell members maintain secrecy of their activities,” Fuzi said in a statement yesterday.

The suspect also issued order to kill against cell members to leak their secrets, he said.

The third suspect, said Fuzi, was also a security guard whose role was to oversee the purchase of weapons from a neighbouring country, as well as to conduct ‘recce’ on non-Muslim houses of worship in Johor Bahru , to be made their targets. He said three other suspects, who were cell members of the three suspects caught earlier, were arrested in operations conducted from Feb 28 until March 1.

The fourth suspect, aged 25 and a waiter at a cafe, had received instruction from the first and third suspect to abduct and murder members of the police force, while the two other suspects, aged 23 and 22, worked as cleaners in Singapore.

”The 23-year-old suspect is the middleman in the purchase of firearms,” he added.