For Money or Her Own IS Mission?
Image Caption: Serious business: Counter Terrorism Division officers detaining the 27-year-old Filipino with PR status (in red shirt) in Kota Kinabalu.
KUALA LUMPUR: For the past year, an immigration officer at the Sandakan airport has been secretly accepting payments to help secure safe passage for IS militants from Indonesia and the Philippines.
The 31-year-old female officer is believed to have arranged for them to head to southern Philippines via Sabah although they do not possess proper travel documents.
“She was instrumental in providing access into Sandakan to those with no valid documents, including IS militants,” a source said.
Investigations are underway to ascertain whether she was doing it purely for the money or to further her own IS mission.
So far, she is known to have helped three of such militants.
The immigration officer was nailed last Thursday.
Another six people were arrested for their alleged links to the IS terror group during a five-day special operation by Bukit Aman which started last Wednesday in Sabah and at the KL International Airport.
Sources said the arrests in Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan showed that IS was aggressively using Sabah as a transit point to bring more fighters to southern Philippines.
“The terror group intends to use southern Philippines as its Asian base.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement yesterday that the officer was arrested along with two Philippine nationals with Malaysian PR status – a 53-year-old woman, who works as a ferry ticket seller, and a 40-year-old labourer.
“The two suspects with PR status are believed to have assisted in the transit of three Indonesian IS militants to southern Philippines via Sabah,” he said.
It is believed that they were also involved in human-trafficking activities.
Others arrested were a 27-year-old Filipino with Malaysian PR status and an 18-year-old Philippine citizen, who were picked up in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday.
“The suspect with the PR is believed to have secured funds for Malaysian fugitive militants Dr Mahmud Ahmad and Mohamad Joraimee Awang Raimee.
“The other one is an IS militant who had sworn allegiance to Abu Sayyaf group senior leader Isnilon Hapilon,” Khalid said.
The sixth suspect – a 36-year-old Philippine man – was detained in Sandakan on Thursday.
“He was planning to go to Syria to join the IS fight there,” he said.
The seventh is a 36-year-old Malaysian man who was arrested at KLIA on Sunday.
“He was a former medical assistant at Jerantut Hospital in Pahang who went to Turkey in October last year.
“He was attempting to secure passage into Syria with the help of known Indonesian militant Abu Fateh from Sulawesi,” Khalid said.
However, he was caught by Turkish authorities on Jan 16 along with other Indonesian militants before being deported. It is learnt that he wanted to work at an IS hospital in Syria.
When contacted, Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the department would not tolerate any misconduct by its officers.
“We always remind our officers to abide by the law,” he said.
(Source: TheStar.com.my)