Malaysia launches crackdown on Isis after threats to kill the king and prime minister

Police in Malaysia have arrested seven suspected Isis militants, including one man who allegedly made threats against the king and the prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, and another who planned to carry out bomb attacks across the region.

It is the most extensive crackdown on Islamic State (Isis) in Malaysia since 2016, when the group bombed a nightclub in Kuala Lumpur, an attack which had no fatalities. The country has been on high alert since multiple Isis attacks were carried out in neighbouring Indonesia, most recently the bombings in Surabaya which killed 37.

In an operation that spanned five Malaysian states,police arrested three Indonesians and four Malaysians suspected of being members of the terrorist group, some of whom had made threats online to carry out attacks across south-east Asia and others who had donated money to well-known Isis militants.

One of the suspects, a 34-year-old Malaysian, was arrested after he pledged allegiance to the group on Facebook and said he planned to assassinate the Malaysian king, the prime minister and the religious affairs minister for not running the country according to Islamic Shariah law.

“The suspect is a supporter of Daesh who posted on his Facebook account the threat to kill his royal highness, the king, Sultan Muhammad V, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and minister in the prime minister’s department Mujahid Yusof Rawa,” said the inspector general of Malaysia police, Mohd Fuzi Harun.

Another of the Malaysian suspects also threatened on Facebook to carry out bomb attacks in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines in the name of Isis. A 24-year-old Malaysian woman was also among the suspects, after it was discovered she had donated £750 to Abu Gomez, a Malaysian who went to fight for the group in Syria but died last March. She had allegedly planned to go to Syria to marry him.

In south-east Asia, Indonesia has become the focal point of Isis. In May, there was a deadly riot in a Jakarta prison that was linked to detained Isis militants. The Malaysian authorities are increasingly fearful that the rise of Isis in Indonesia will spread over the border.

The Malaysian police have foiled nine Isis plots to attack Malaysia since the declaration of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014. They have also arrested more than 300 individuals for suspected links to the group and shut down numerous pro-Isis websites. But the government’s efforts have failed to prevent a significant number of Malaysians from going to fight for Isis in countries such as the Philippines, Syria and Iraq, and has been criticised for not being prepared for what to do with militants who return home.