BALI (Sputnik) — ISIL jihadist group is planning kidnappings and bank robberies in Malaysia to finance their militants' activities, the police chief in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur said.
The activity of the ISIL in Malaysia "has passed the first level of recruitment and training of new members, and is now entering the second level [of kidnapping and robbery]," Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Tajuddin Md Isa was quoted as saying by The Malaysian Insider newspaper on Wednesday.
The police in Kuala Lumpur had tightened the security, but must remain alert against potential threats from the terrorist group, Tajuddin said.
In April, the Malaysian police discovered that a group of at least 70 people, including Malaysian Armed Forces servicemen, had ties with the ISIL.
Islamic State is a Sunni jihadist group that governs vast territories in Iraq and Syria. The extremists are notorious for abductions and brutal killings of hostages.
According to the US National Counterterrorism Center, over 20,000 foreigners from 90 countries are suspected of having joined the ISIL over the last three years.
