Police detect two individuals involved in IS through umrah trip

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KUALA LUMPUR: Police have detected two individuals who joined the Islamic State (IS) militant group through their umrah (minor haj) trip before meeting up with the militants in Syria.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said they had used the services of an umrah agency for the trip to ease their plan and to avoid detection by the authorities of their real intention.

“So far, we have detected two such cases where on the pretext of going for umrah, they actually wanted to join the IS militants.

“They went (to the Holy Land) not for a religious purpose….imagine, the umrah being misused,”
said Khalid, who declined to reveal the identity of the two individuals.

He was met by reporters after handing out letters of appreciation to selected courteous road users and the best police contingents in the ‘Op Selamat’ 6/2015 held in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration.

Khalid said police believed that the umrah agency had no connection with the individuals involved in the IS.

He said the problem, however, needed to be tackled holistically, including through legal means.

The IGP said police had so far identified 50 Malaysians who had gone to Syria to join the IS, while another 70 had been arrested, including those trying to leave the country to go to Syria and also those who had returned from there.

Recently, Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin revealed about individuals planning to join the IS movement through the umrah package, and information on this was obtained through sharing of information with certain countries, including members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

On another development, Khalid said police would call Penang Deputy Chief Minister II, P Ramasamy over his statement deemed as racist which appeared on social websites. — Bernama