It’s a war of minds too as authorities fight spread of ideology

SERDANG: Security forces are not only fighting a physical war with Islamic State (IS) but a psychological war, too, as the militant ideology is being spread on social media.

Noticing that the threat could easily spread in institutes of higher learning nationwide, the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation and the police held a talk with students at Universiti Putra Malaysia here.

Counter Terrorism Division head Deputy Comm Datuk Ayob Khan said that while the physical war was being waged with the IS globally, they also had to address the threat of the ideology being spread especially among the youth.

“Now they use social media, and more often it is those who are facing troubles who are likely to be influenced.

“It may be a wife whose husband is committing immoral activities or a student who has sinned.

“They lure you with the promise that by going to Syria to fight, all your sins will be washed away. If not, you could die a martyr’s death,” DCP Ayob told the students.

He said that since 2013, police have arrested 294 in connection with IS.

“The numbers are increasing every year. This year, we have already caught 30 so far and I am almost certain the number will be higher than last year at the end of this year,” he said.

He said people had thought the police were just putting on an act when making arrests of suspected militants.

However, the attack on the Movida pub in Puchong last year was proof that the threat was real.

He showed the students two videos of police conducting controlled explosions using materials similar to those the suspected militants were planning to use.

“We used 2kg of high explosives to blast a car and it was completely destroyed.

“If they had gone through with exploding 50kg of the explosives here, the results would have been catastrophic,” DCP Ayob said.

“If anyone shows interest in IS, inform the police immediately,” he said.