Six Daesh suspects held in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities have arrested six local men for suspected involvement with Daesh, police said.

Malaysia has been on the watch for Daesh-linked militants since an attack last year by the group in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. A police statement said that the six suspects were detained from separate raids in four states from last Tuesday through Friday.

The first arrest was of Mohammed Muzafa Arieff Junaidi who surrendered after police issued a media statement requesting the public to come forward with information about him. The 27-yearold farmer was wanted by police for smuggling arms for Malaysiabased Daesh militants. Police said Muzafa was instructed to sneak into Southern Thailand with two firearms.

Another arrest involved two brothers under suspicion of helping the militant movement in Syria.

The brothers are relatives of Mohammed Fudhail Omar, who had instructed a “lone wolf” attack in Malaysian state of Sabah last August.

Fudhail is expected to take over the role of the former top Daesh operative Mohammed Wanndy Mohammed Jedi who was on a US list of global militants until his death, Khalid said.

Wanndy was the alleged mastermind behind a grenade attack on a Kuala Lumpur bar last June, which injured eight people. It was the first and so far only Daesh attack that caused casualties in Malaysia.

Also arrested, a 54-year-old retired military personnel for channeling around 20,000 ringgit ($4,683) to Syrian militants through several transactions. One of his sons has joined the militants in Syria. Another two unnamed suspects were detained for supporting and helping Daesh in Syria.