Police said today it is beyond their jurisdiction to retrieve eight Malaysian children who are being trained as Islamic State (IS) fighters in the Middle East.

"We always do our best to convince people, particularly those who are already in Iraq and Syria, to abandon the beliefs and followings (of IS) there.

"But it is beyond our jurisdiction to go there and bring them back," inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Khalid was asked if the police had any means of retrieving the children after Bukit Aman Special Branch director Mohamad Fuzi Harun yesterday revealed that Malaysian parents had taken at least eight of their children to the Middle East to be raised as IS fighters.

Khalid said there was an "ideological problem" in trying to convince those who have left to fight for the IS to abandon their ways and return home.

"If they still believe in the wrong, how can we go and bring them back? So what we can do is to prevent them from ever getting there," he said.

Khalid also confirmed that there were no IS training camps in the country and that police were conducting surveillance activities to prevent such bases from being set up.

"They will indeed try to set up training camps wherever they can and it is our responsibility to control this and take action before it happens," he said.

Khalid said there were possibilities of existing camps in the southern Philippines and therefore efforts may be made to set up similar bases in Malaysia.

Bad apples in force

On a separate issue, Khalid admitted that the incident of three police officers who had kidnapped a Sulu woman in Lahad Datu for ransom had tarnished the force's reputation.

However, he stressed that such personnel were a minority. "We are many, and in a large force, there are bound to be bad apples.

"It is the responsibility of the (police) integrity department to get rid of these bad apples from the force," he said.

He added that the police will not protect these individuals and they will be made to face the law.

The three police officers were arrested yesterday for kidnapping a 44-year-old Sulu woman on Jan 6.