Home-grown M’sian terror group ‘aimed to start Islamic state, war’

KUALA LUMPUR — A home-grown militant organisation linked to terrorist group Al Qaeda intended to form an Islamic state in Malaysia by waging war and launching attacks, a counterterrorism officer told the Malaysian High Court yesterday.

Assistant superintendent of police Mohd Raby Abu Bakar, 55, was testifying at the terrorism trial of two detainees, Yazid Sufaat and Muhammad Hilmi Hasim. Both were charged under the Security Offences Special Measures Act (SOSMA) 2012, a law strengthened by the government three years ago to combat terrorism. The trial was broadcast live on the court website.

When testifying on Yazid’s alleged terrorist group Tanzim Al Qaeda Malaysia, ASP Raby said militant groups in South-east Asia believed that their political objective of forming an Islamic state cannot be achieved through elections and is best achieved through warfare. Yazid and his group believed that the Malaysian parliament was “berhala”, or idolatrous, and had to be demolished.

Key to the group’s operations was a two-pronged strategy of indoctrinating people through weekly religious classes and sending them overseas for training in Islamic militant conflict areas.

Citing information received since November 2011, ASP Raby said Yazid conducted “usrah” or religious classes every Saturday at his house and managed to recruit jihadists for Tanzim Al Qaeda.

“When they return to Malaysia (after training in overseas conflict areas), they already have sufficient knowledge to plot a war in Malaysia, whether through small-scale or large-scale or lone wolf attacks,” testified the officer, who has served 18 years in the police’s counterterrorism unit.

Former army captain Yazid is accused of knowingly encouraging terrorist acts with the intention of promoting an ideological purpose intended to threaten the Syrian public, while his cafeteria assistant Hilmi was charged with abetting him in doing so.

Yazid has previously been held without trial by the government for allegedly allowing Al Qaeda operatives planning the 9/11 attacks to use his apartment for discussions, but was released in 2008 when Putrajaya assessed that he was no longer a threat.

The recruits in Yazid’s group that were allegedly sent to engage in militant activities in Syria are two Malaysians, Mohd Razif Mohd Ariff and Muhamad Razin Sharhan Mustafa, who have been detained and are awaiting trial in Lebanon.

Presenting a chart to the court, ASP Raby detailed the network of the four cells allegedly formed under Yazid.

A cell in Ampang, Selangor, was allegedly headed by Yazid’s wife, Chomel Mohamad. Mohd Razif and Muhamad Razin headed two separate cells in Selangor’s Sungai Buloh and Perak’s Trolak. The other cell was headed by another SOSMA detainee, Halimah Hussein, with the fugitive currently in hiding after finding five recruits through Facebook.

Yazid and Hilmi are accused of committing the offences between 2012 and 2013. The pair was arrested in May 2013 in their homes.

If convicted, both could be sentenced to a maximum of life imprisonment and a fine. The trial in the High Court will resume today. AGENCIES