Malaysia a dumping ground for IS fighters barred from Syria: Govt

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia has been made a “dumping ground” for foreigners who were barred from entering Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, said the Malaysian authorities, who are increasingly concerned over the threat posed by these militants.

Counter-terrorism operatives have been scouring the ground, with little intelligence help to tackle the growing number of these individuals, who are deported to Malaysia with their travel status marked as “tourists”.

These individuals, including some flagged as “high risk”, had earlier been detained at airports in several countries for their “potential risk to national security”.

Sources said there were at least 30 known “unwanted tourists” who had been “dumped” in Malaysia. Intelligence operatives have managed to trace 28 foreigners.

“We don’t know who exactly they are, but they were not supposed to be sent to Malaysia. The normal procedure is, for example, if you had flown from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and were arrested in Jakarta, the authorities must deport you to Singapore as that was the last point of disembarkation, not Kuala Lumpur,” an unnamed source said.

The source said the foreigners departed from various parts of the world before being arrested in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Instead of being deported to their last port of disembarkation, they were given the ‘option’ to be deported to Malaysia. We have become a dumping ground, and this is likely because not only are we a visa-free nation to visit for many countries, we are also a Muslim nation.”

Some countries that wanted to rid their soil of these persona non grata would even assist these “unwanted tourists” to obtain travel documents so they could enter Malaysia as tourists, said another source.

“These individuals, whose plans to join IS were thwarted, are now in Malaysia and have stayed off the radar. There were several instances in which the relevant countries did alert the Malaysian authorities of such deportations, but it would be well after these individuals had entered the country. It is not easy for the police to trace them.”

The source also revealed that among those sent over were individuals labelled by these countries’ intelligence agencies as “dangerous”.

Malaysian police had traced and deported some to their home countries, but many more were staying put.

“Wisma Putra should also at least be informed if these foreign governments were planning to deport these unwelcome individuals to Malaysia,” said the source, using the Malay name for the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“This is the standard international protocol for cases like these ... But they, too, were not informed, what more the other relevant authorities.”

The New Straits Times learnt that an informal objection has been lodged with one of the countries known to have frequently deported the foreign nationals it arrested for security reasons to Malaysia.

Counter-terrorism unit director Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the presence of these individuals in the country posed a significant risk to national security.

“This trend is extremely dangerous since we know that these people were denied entry to these countries because they had wanted to join IS. So there is always the possibility that they would look for a chance to plan an attack here since their aim to go to Syria had been foiled,” he said.

“This is why it is important for these foreign authorities to inform us before they deport anyone to our country.”

Malaysia has been on high alert since gunmen linked to IS launched multiple attacks in Jakarta, the capital of neighbouring Indonesia, in January last year, and has arrested hundreds of people over the past few years for suspected links to militant groups.

Since 2013, more than 260 militants have been put behind bars by the Malaysian authorities.

To date, 11 Malaysians had been deported from Turkey for attempting to sneak into Syria to join IS. NEW STRAITS TIMES