Eight suspects arrested for links with Abu Sayyaf and Daesh

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have arrested eight suspected militants, five of whom have links to the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in operations conducted in Sabah, Selangor and Perak between Sept 27 and Oct 6.
The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Fuzi Harun (pix) said that the first spate of arrests were made in Sandakan, Sabah on Sept 27.
"Two Malaysians, two Filipinos and another Filipino with Malaysian Permanent Resident (PR) status, all aged between 30 and 53 were arrested," he said in a statement.
"They are believed to have been making arrangements for Abu Sayyaf militants to come into Malaysia," he added.
These fresh round of arrests comes from information police had received when they arrested seven suspected Abu Sayyaf militants on 14 Sept.
A 35-year-old Albanian who was a law lecturer at a public university was detained for his alleged links to Daesh, while two others were also nabbed for their alleged links to Al-Qaeda overseas.
The two others had been detained previously for links to terrorists, in February 2013.
Meanwhile, one of the men detained, was a 53-year-old, suspected of recruiting inmates in Tapah prison.
"He planned to use that influence to carry out deadly attacks at places of worship of Christians, Muslims and Hindus with the aim of causing conflict in the country," said Harun.
He added that this man also has information and is protecting one of the Tandzim Al-Qaeda Malaysia (TAQM) militants, who is still at large and wanted by the police.
The other suspect, a 37-year-old man is believed to have recruited two Malaysians to join TAQM.