KUALA LUMPUR: The 14-year-old girl suspected of attempting to head to Syria and join the Islamic State terror group was funded by a man based in the city.
Bukit Aman’s Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm Datuk Ayob Khan said initial investigations revealed that the Muar-born girl received about RM2,000 from the man for her trip.
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| SAC Datuk Ayub Khan |
“She got RM2,000 and the plane tickets and was about to leave the country on the pretext of furthering her studies in Egypt.
“We are in the midst of identifying the so-called benefactor,” he said in an interview
He added that Bukit Aman was also investigating whether the man had knowledge of the IS agenda and if he backed it.
He said they were also trying to ascertain if she had other sponsors or if the man had funded other would-be militants.
“The girl was influenced to join the IS in November last year after communication with militants on Facebook.
“We are also trying to identify the Malaysian she said she was planning to marry in Egypt. We want to find out if it was just a cover story,” he said.
The girl is now being held at a juvenile detention centre in Jinjang.
SAC Ayob said a total of seven Malaysian women have gone to Syria while seven others were detained before they could do so.
The teenage girl was arrested at about 7.30pm on Tuesday before she could board a Cairo-bound flight at KL International Airport. She was planning to marry a 22-year-old student in Cairo. Both would then go to Istanbul before securing passage to Syria.
Intelligence sources said the girl’s would-be husband is a student at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University.
It is learnt that the girl, who studied at a tahfiz institute in Shah Alam, had attempted to go to Cairo without her family’s consent.
She had even threatened to kill herself if her parents did not let her go.
Her uncle told Bernama thet the girl had wanted to further her studies at a religious school.
“I didn’t know my niece was detained until you (reporters) told me... Her relationship with her family is good and there are no problems and she is close to her friends at school.
“She is the eldest of three children and their mother died a few years ago,” said the 52-year-old.
The girl’s arrest brings the number of people linked to terrorism arrested to 68 since February 2013.
Anyone with information on the militants are urged to contact the nearest police station or the counter-terrorism division at 03-2266 7010 or 011-2104 6850, or e-mailCTD.E8M@gmail.com
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