KUALA LUMPUR: Three people, including a 19-year-old Form Six student, were nabbed by counter-terrorism operatives in Kelantan on Oct 10 for alleged ties with the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
The trio were believed to have been experimenting with homemade bombs, otherwise called improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and had planned attacks against several targets in the Klang Valley.
Among the targets were the Better Beer Festival 2017, which had initially been scheduled to take place at Publika in Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, before being cancelled by City Hall; various non-Muslim places of worship; and, entertainment outlets.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said on Tuesday the trio were arrested by Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division operatives at a restaurant in Pasir Putih on Oct 10.
He said the teenager, a student at a school in Pasir Putih, was believed to have been the one who was responsible for producing the IEDs.
He was believed to have tested a pipe bomb at an open space on Sept 28, and another at a field near his house a few days later. The second one, however, proved a failure.
Another man who was arrested with the teenager was a 34-year-old former soldier who is now a construction worker, said Fuzi.
He said the man’s role was to collect money from sympathisers to fund the cost of the IEDs.
“The raiding team seized paraphernalia used to produce IEDs, three pipe bombs weighing 800g, which is enough to cause damage within a 30m radius, a pipe bomb weighing 600g believed to be the bomb which did not explode in their experiments, firecrackers and a paper with drawings believed to be the formula used to produce the bombs.”
The third man arrested, said Fuzi, was a 25-year-old contractor from Perak.
Asked if the trio had received orders from anyone to conduct the attacks, Fuzi said investigations were still ongoing.
Initial investigations, however, revealed that the contractor had ties with “Gagak Hitam” IS cells who were responsible for the Movida entertainment outlet bombing last year.
However, Fuzi declined to elaborate on this.
When asked how the trio possessed the skills to produce IEDs, he said there were many elements, including the fact that one was a former soldier, adding that they had also gleaned some knowledge from the Internet.
Fuzi stressed that police did not make things up when they said they received information on militants planning to sabotage the beer festival earlier this month.
The force had come under criticism from some quarters who claimed police were making things up to justify the decision of City Hall in not allowing the festival to go on.
“That (the allegation of police making up the information) is nonsense. We always take proactive measures as we do not want anything bad to happen. We take immediate action to avoid untoward incidents and maintain security in the country,” said Fuzi.
Fuzi said, since 2013, there were eight unsuccessful attempts by militants to conduct attacks in the country, with this being the ninth attempt thwarted by police.
Since January, he said, police had arrested 78 people over suspicion of being connected to IS.
Fuzi said police are on the lookout for 53 Malaysians in Syria and another five in Marawi in the southern Philippines who are still at large.
Asked if there had been intelligence reports that they wanted to come back to Malaysia, he would only say: “They will be arrested if they come back.”