Civil servants among eight held in anti-terror ops

KUALA LUMPUR: Two civil servants were among eight detained by federal police for alleged involvement in religious militancy Friday.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday the suspects, all Malaysians aged between 22 and 36 were held in simultaneous raids in Selangor, Perak and Johor by the Special Branch’s elite counter terrorism unit.

He said six of them are members of the Tandzim Al Qaeda Malaysia (TAQM) militant group and two others had links with the Islamic State (IS).

Khalid said investigations showed two of them aged 24 and 33 were arrested and held by Lebanon police since Oct 2012 after they attempted to sneak into Syria to join the IS.

He said the duo were escorted to Malaysia by members of the Special Branch on Friday and were arrested on arrival at the KL International Airport.

Khalid said the younger suspect, who is from Selangor, was a former government staff while the older suspect is an electrician from here.

“The civil servants we detained are both aged 28 and are suspected to be involved with the IS.

“They are from the same militant cell of two other civil servants we detained on Aug 19. These suspects had propagated their ideology to influence other civil servants to join them,” he said yesterday.

Khalid said the remaining four suspects were remnants of the TAQM who were detained in Selangor and Johor.

He said the suspects had gone into hiding after the Special Branch nabbed the group’s senior leaders in an operation in 2013.