KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian police arrested three suspects over their links with the Islamic State (IS) terror group, Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said on Thursday.
The suspects aged 20 to 42 and included one Malaysian national, one Indonesian and one Bangladeshi, who was in possession of materials and had the expertise to produce Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Abdul Hamid said in a statement.
The suspects were arrested between May 17 and Thursday by the Malaysian police Special Branch counterterrorism division with police still searching for a fourth suspect, an Indonesian in his 30s.
"The Malaysian suspect had on two occasions pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and was arrested at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) as he attempted to leave for Egypt with the intention of joining a Sinai-based terror group before heading to Syria," he said.
The Indonesian suspect had also pledged allegiance to IS and was arrested as he attempted to make his way to the southern Philippines from Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah for the purpose of carrying out a suicide attack.
"He had also sent funds to the Maute terror group in southern Philippines and had planned to travel to Syria," Abdul Hamid said.
The final suspect, a Bangladeshi, had been working as a mechanic in the shipping industry and was suspected of lending support to IS in Bangladesh.
The trio is being investigated under the country's anti-terrorism laws.
Earlier in May, Malaysian police arrested seven members of a IS affiliated group who were planning to carry out bomb and gun attacks on places of worship in the country.
