Kelantan man said to be part of ISIS arms-smuggling ring sought by police

Police in Malaysia are seeking a Kelantan man with links to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) suspected of being involved in a smuggling ring selling firearms to the militant group, the New Straits Times reported on Thursday (May 11).

The paper, citing sources, said the 27-year-old man identified as Muhammad Muzaffa Arieff Junaidi from Kampung Gertak is wanted by the police for being part of a group of smugglers operating along the Kelantan-Thai border.

According to the sources, the man regularly travels to southern Thailand and Kelantan, especially to the border town of Sungai Golok in Thailand’s Narathiwat Province, to collect the supply of firearms either through checkpoints or illegal jetties located along the border areas.

The sources said the man is sometimes accompanied by other smugglers when he collects the firearms from the Thai suppliers.

“Sometimes, he will make the deal (of selling firearms) there in the border town and sometimes, he will cross over back to Rantau Panjang (in Kelantan) with the firearms,” the report cited the sources as saying.

The man is believed to have fled to Thailand on March 22 after a crackdown by Malaysian police.

The report also cited Thai security sources as saying that the suspect had entered the country regularly.

Kelantan police said on Thursday that they were investigating the report and were working with their Thai counterparts to jointly probe the case, the paper reported.

Malaysia’s counter-terrorism police said last week that six individuals in five states were arrested earlier this year over their suspected links to ISIS.

Two of the six were nabbed in Kelantan in March for their involvement in the smuggling of weapons from southern Thailand that were meant to be used by ISIS militants in Malaysia.

Source: Straits Times