No IS cells yet but public must remain vigilant

PETALING JAYA: The warning is out there, the public needs to be more vigilant and report suspicious behaviour immediately to the police or any any security agency to prevent terror attacks.
International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, Centre for Security Studies Southeast Asia regional director Andrin Raj said not only should the public play a more proactive role but the management of hotels and shopping malls need to educate their security personnel on the growing dangers of terror attacks.
He said if the public sees something suspicious they should report it to the police or to the security personnel on duty in the area.
He said the police cannot be everywhere and it is very difficult to stop a lone wolf attack.
"If everyone plays their role it will be easier to mitigate such attacks. If we ourselves are complacent and not bothered about security then when an attack happens the police should not be blamed," he said.
Andrin pointed out that areas where double-parking is prevalent can be used by terror cells for dry runs before actually conducting a proper attack on the area.
Andrin said at the moment there is no proper Islamic State (IS) terror cell in the country and only vigilance can help defeat them.
Citing the example of the terror attack on Movida in Puchong, he said it was carried out by sympathisers of IS.
He added that the it is their ideology and believe in IS that makes them followers of IS, they have not been brainwashed into joining
IS.
"Once the sympathisers start getting the ability to develop leadership capabilities they will then slowly develop their modus oprerandi and only then will they be a full fledged IS cell," he said.
Andrin pointed out that from then onwards they would be able to coordinate attacks.
He added that all the present attacks globally are linked to a secret correspondence and it is a highly cooperative collaboration for the attacks to take place within days of each other.