The Bukit Aman Special Task Force has crippled an Islamic State militant group which had plans to use Sabah as a transit point for militants in South-East Asia and South Asia to enter the Southern Philippines to join other militants.

Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar in a statement said the suspects comprising three foreigners from Bangladesh and one from the Philippines, plus a local woman were detained in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu.

The suspects, aged between 27 and 31, were detained by Bukit Aman's Special Task Force (operations and counter-terrorism) Department during separate operations between Jan 13 and 19.

"With the arrest of the suspects, the special task force has crippled a new group of IS militants who had planned to use Sabah as their transit point for militants in South-East Asia and South Asia to sneak into Southern Philippines," he said in a statement today.

Khalid said the first suspect, a Filipino aged 31, believed to be a member of the IS militant group but who worked as a salesman in a shop selling watches in Kota Kinabalu, was detained on Jan 13.

The Filipino was believed to be under the leadership of Mahmud Ahmad (former Universiti Malaya lecturer who had joined the IS group in the Southern Philippines).

"The suspect was believed to have been directed by Mahmud Ahmad to recruit new members from Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Rohingnya from Myanmar before sending them to the Southern Philippines to join the IS militant group in Marawi City, Mindanao, Philippines," he said.

According to Khalid, the second suspect was a local woman, aged 27, and detained together with the first suspect in Kota Kinabalu.

"The unemployed woman from Selangor was roped in early last month through the social media," he said adding that the woman took a flight from the KL International Airport on Jan 13, to join the first suspect in Kota Kinabalu.

"The two suspects were planning to move to Sandakan before sneaking into the Southern Philippines," he said.

Khalid said two other suspects who were arrested on Jan 19, were from Bangladesh, aged 27 and 28, and worked as salesmen before being recruited by the Filipino.

"The two Bangladeshi suspects are believed to be connected to an IS militant group operating in Bangladesh," he said.

Khalid said investigations revealed that the group headed by Mahmud had joined the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) led by Isnilon Hapilon who has close ties with Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi, the leader of IS militants.

Apart from Mahmud, two other Malaysians, Darul Islam Sabah's Amin Bacho and Joraimee Awang had also joined the group that is operating in Marawi City, Mindanao.

- Bernama