KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysian police said 14 people
arrested this week for suspected links to the Islamic State group included a
government engineer and two others who used Facebook to recruit fighters for
the extremist group in Syria.
"Three of them are key players of a cell whose role was
to recruit, finance and arrange trips for Malaysians to join terror groups in
Syria," national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement late
Wednesday.
- Those arrested ranged in age from 14 to 48 years old and include two women, the statement said.
- Khalid had been quoted by Malaysian media earlier Wednesday saying the arrests were made Monday in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.
- Authorities in the Muslim-majority country - as well as some of its Southeast Asian neighbours - have expressed mounting alarm over the extremist group's efforts to lure recruits from Malaysia, which has historically practiced moderate Islam.
Police have arrested a total of three dozen people this year
for suspected IS-related activities, and say that at least 40 Malaysians have
left for Syria.
Khalid's statement said this week's arrests include a
37-year-old recruiter who is a senior government engineer with the Ministry of
Energy, Green Technology and Water.
He is believed to have funded recruits' travel to Syria,
Khalid said.
Source: AFP
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