PASIR PUTEH: Police believe that the rest of the Abu Sayyaf members are still hiding in the country after the arrests of seven of its members as well as an Islamic State (IS) member recently.
Bukit Aman Special Branch deputy director E1 Datuk Mohamed Farid Abu Hassan said police, particularly the Counter-Terrorism division are now hunting down the rest of the group, believed to be hiding in several states.
“The Counter-Terrorism division is still doing their follow-up on the case after the arrests of the eight.
“God willing, if they succeed in their follow-up, there will be more arrests soon,” he told a press conference after opening the Selising police station, here, today.
Also present were Kelantan police chief Datuk Hasanuddin Hassan and all district police chiefs.
Asked whether there are any other militant groups apart from the Abu Sayyaf group in the country, Mohamed Farid said police are not ruling out the possibility, including those who channelled funds to former pop group Ukays drummer, Wan Mohd Aquil Wan Zainal or Akel Zainal who joined the IS in Syria.
“These groups exist throughout the country but the number of those active are few. They are hiding in several states and their numbers are not alarming," he said, assuring that despite the low figures, police will continue to track them down one by one.
Asked whether Abu Sayyaf had used locals to send the money to Akel Zainal, Mohamed Farid said they have their own way to send money.
“They have used various methods to send the cash and they are not using the country’s banking system all the time. Some of them use illegal channel to send the money,” he said.
Mohamed Farid also said police would arrest Akel Zainal once he returned to Malaysia and have enough evidence against him.
“There should be no reason for us not to arrest him (Akel Zainal) if he returns. But the decision is not done by the police alone, we also need to get approval from the Attorney-General’s (AG) office,” he said.
Mohamed Farid was commenting on a report last Saturday on the arrests of eight men for alleged involvement in terrorist activities between Oct 30 and Nov 12.
The suspects - seven Filipinos and one Malaysian, were arrested in a series of raids by the Special Branch’s Counter-Terrorism division in Putrajaya and Sabah.
One of them had also channelled funds to Akel Zainal who joined the IS in Syria last year.