Suspected militants planned two plots against Saudi king in Malaysia

Saudi Arabia's King Salman shakes hands with Malaysia's King Muhammad V in Kuala Lumpur on February 26, 2017. Bandar Algaloud / Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court / Handout via Reuters / File Photo

ABU DHABI // Suspected militants had been planning what appeared to be two separate plots targeting Saudi Arabia’s King Salman during his visit to Kuala Lumpur last week, Malaysian authorities announced on Tuesday.

Four Yemeni men were arrested between February 21 and 26, just before the Saudi monarch began his month-long Asian tour in Malaysia. One senior police official speaking anonymously told Reuters they were members of the Houthi rebel group in Yemen.

The men were arrested in Serdang and Cyberjaya, on the outskirts of the capital, Malaysian police officials said on Sunday when they first announced the arrest of six people, including the Yemenis, with alleged ties to militant groups.

“Four Yemenis, apart from their role involving in producing false travel documents, they are also involved in distributing drugs ... and they are also planning to attack the Arab royalties during the visit in Kuala Lumpur, so we got them in the nick of time,” another senior police official, Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar, said on Tuesday.

The BBC reported that other sources claimed the men were not Houthis but rather linked to ISIL.

Although Sunni extremists are the main militant threat in Malaysia, one expert said it would not be a surprise if the reports of a Houthi network were verified.

“For the intelligence community and researchers it is not surprising at all,” said Ahmad El Mohammady, a terrorism analyst who studies radicalisation in South-east Asia at the International Islamic University Malaysia, and who consults for the Malaysian police.

In the past, he added, Malaysian authorities have uncovered Hizbollah operatives using the country as a base for regional activities.

The men were carrying a number of foreign passports as well as over US$60,000 (Dh220,350) in a variety of currencies, police said, without providing details on the nature of the alleged plot against the visiting Saudi delegation.

Malaysian police said earlier they had also arrested two men, a Malaysian national and an Indonesian, for plotting a large truck or car bombing attack during the king’s visit. The officials said the men had planned to travel to Syria to join ISIL.

Over the past year authorities in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have been scrambling to counter the spread of ISIL-linked or inspired groups in South-east Asia.

They fear that as the extremist group loses territory in Iraq and Syria, there will be a heightened domestic terror threat as some of those who travelled to join ISIL – more than 1,000 fighters from the region – return home and energise local militant networks.

Late last year, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said at the inauguration of a new domestic counter-terrorism force that 250 Malaysians had been arrested for ties to the group, and that 60 were still fighting in Iraq and Syria, while 32 had died in combat there.

Although the number of people who have travelled to join ISIL are relatively small, “it is not about the size or level of [the immediate] threat, it is about the presence and potential threats that might escalate” over time, Mr El Muhammady said.

Authorities have made dozens of arrests and uncovered terrorist plots that in some cases reportedly involved civil servants and members of the security services.

“Malaysian authorities are on the high alert at all times in facing the terrorism threats, domestic and foreign,” Mr El Muhammady said. “A lot of terrorist plans were disrupted.”

In January 2016, a group of militants with suspected links to ISIL killed six people in an attack in Jakarta. Last summer, ISIL claimed its first attack in Malaysia after a militant threw a grenade outside a bar near Kuala Lumpur. The Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines last week beheaded a German citizen it had been holding for ransom.

During King Salman’s visit to Malaysia, there were discussions with its leaders on enhancing bilateral security ties to combat the ISIL threat. The Saudi ruler is currently in Indonesia, and is expected to travel on to the Maldives, China and Japan.