Two men charged with trying to join Daish in Syria

A welding assistant and a factory technician were today charged in the Magistrate's Court, here, with attempting to join the Daish terror group in Syria recently.

Zufadli Jafri, 24, from Kampung Bakam, Miri and Mohd Ridwan Mohd Musa, 29, from Parit Bengkok in Gresik, Tangkak, Johor were charged under Section 130JA of the Penal Code and read together with Section 511.

They face a jail term of up to 30 years and a fine, if convicted.

According to the charge sheet, the two accused took a train at the Padang Besar railway station at 2.46pm on Oct 23 to Bangkok and then flew on Gulf Air to Turkey before going to Syria to allegedly commit a terror act there.

However, no plea was recorded from both after the charge was read out to them before magistrate Mohd Azhar Hamzah, who then set Jan 5 for mention before the case is transferred to the High Court.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Fadzlan Mohd Noor from Putrajaya appeared for the prosecution while the two accused were unrepresented.

On Nov 4, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had reportedly said that the Counter-Terrorism Division, Bukit Aman police Special Branch detained two men at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport upon arrival from Turkey on Oct 30.

He said the two had flown to Turkey via Bangkok after taking the train from Padang Besar but were barred from entering by the Turkish government which sensed their motive of joining the Daesh terror group in Syria.

The two had been recruited by Mohammad Wanndy Mohamad Jedi, 26, who is on the authorities' wanted list, to kill this country's top leaders and top police officers.

Mohammad Wanndy is also believed to have coordinated the plan to bring in the two accused en route to Syria, but they were detained by the Turkish authorities upon landing in Istanbul before being repatriated the next day. -- BERNAMA