Police remain proactive in combating Daish militants in Malaysia - Ayob Khan

The Royal Malaysian Police remained proactive in combating Daesh militants in the country even after the group was seen to have weakened after the death of its Southeast Asian leader, Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, last April.

Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division principal assistant director Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the police were always on alert and would monitor any threat against national security.

"All this while, we have been proactive in taking action to thwart any attempt to shake public order and national security.

"We don't want to wait until it is too late to do anything," he told reporters after attending the Symposium on Ummah's Thought organised by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department here Tuesday.

On May 8, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed that Muhammad Wanndy was killed in an attack in Raqqa, Syria on April 29.

Muhammad Wanndy, also known as Abu Hamzah Al-Fateh, was believed to have masterminded several militant attacks in the region, including at an entertainment centre in Puchong, Selangor, last year.

Daesh militant group's top leadership, however, was reported to have lost confidence in him following his failure in the militant operations in Malaysia.

Nevertheless, Ayob said the police would continue sharing intelligence information with other countries to track down the remnants of Muhammad Wanndy's followers who would still contact the Daesh group in Syria.

"We will continue monitoring their activities to ensure that any attempt to enter, plan or order a Malaysian citizen to launch an attack here will be thwarted before it even began," he said.

When asked about the threat of lone-wolf terror attacks, Ayob said it was not easy to detect such a threat without good intelligence information, as suffered by several countries such as Spain, United Kingdom and the United States recently.

"Even those in Europe could not detect a lone wolf because the attack can be attempted by anyone who would simply drive a lorry and hit civilians with it. Without intelligence information, no one would be able to stop that person," he added.

-- BERNAMA