The 27-year old from Malacca, who was reportedly linked to the bombing of the Movida club in Puchong in June last year, is more active on the Internet for the Islamic State (IS) than on the ground.
In a report yesterday, Channel News Asia quoted the unnamed man, whose daughter is a medical anaesthetist living with her two children under the IS in Mayadin, Syria, as saying that Wanndy did not do much in Syria.
“My daughter said he mostly works as a guard and is not a fighter. His reputation on the Internet is much bigger than what he actually does in Syria,” the businessman was quoted as saying.
It was reported earlier this month that the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had imposed a sanction on the Malaysian IS militant group leader. It had imposed the same sanction on Wanndy’s Indonesian comrade, Muhammad Bahrun Naik Anggih Tamtomo.
The New Straits Times meanwhile reported that Wanndy was wanted under the Specially Designated Global Terrorists list (SDGT) alongside the world’s most notorious terrorists.
He had been sourcing funding and providing operational support for the terror group, apart from recruiting fighters.
In July last year, Wanndy was quoted by Astro Awani as saying he did not issue instructions for two men arrested in connection with the Movida blast, said to be the first attack by IS in Malaysia.
“This is a serious accusation intended to make those arrested scapegoats. They (police) are cooking up stories as revenge towards me and manipulating facts of the arrests to divert the people’s attention from Malaysia’s current issues, which are getting worse,” Wanndy reportedly posted on Facebook on July 5.
“Those who were arrested are mere supporters, who expressed support for the Islamic caliphate, and they have never received instructions from me to launch attacks on leaders and judges, as claimed by (Inspector-General of Police) Khalid Abu Bakar in his press conference.”
He however vowed to avenge those who have been “persecuted” by Malaysian authorities, by launching large-scale attacks here.
The police have named Wanndy as the man who gave orders to carry out the attack on June 28 where eight people watching the Euro football match at 2.15am at the Movida pub were injured.
The Channel News Asia report also quoted the businessman as saying that many Malaysians signed up to become suicide bombers in Syria. “The queue is very long,” he reportedly said.
Recounting information given by his daughter, the man said many Malaysian males who went to Syria to join IS have been killed in various battles as the group comes under pressure from air strikes and ground troops in Syria and Iraq, the report said.
“My daughter said most of the Malaysians who are now in Syria are women as many of their husbands have died in various battles,” the businessman was quoted as saying.
His daughter had herself became a widow after her Terengganu-born husband, identified as Mohd Amirul Ahmad Rahim, 26, strapped himself with explosives and drove a car into 21 Kurdish fighters battling IS at Raqqa on Dec 29, 2015, the report said.
It added that Amirul had decreed before he went on his suicide mission that his two children follow the IS cause.
The businessman said he had no idea that his daughter and Amirul had left for Syria to serve IS in Oct 2014, and he would have stopped them if he knew beforehand.
His daughter graduated from university as a medical lab technician and was trained to be an anaesthetist at a hospital in Raqqa, before the IS moved its headquarters to Mayadin, he reportedly added.
The report also quoted him as saying that she has since married an Egyptian there.
“She would WhatsApp me and I would call her back immediately to speak to her. The internet connection in Syria is good. My WhatsApp calls to her are very clear,” he reportedly said.
The report said there are now 17 children out of a total of 57 Malaysians operating in Syria.
Another 30 Malaysians have been killed fighting for IS in Syria and Iraq since 2013. Citing Malaysian police, the report said seven of these, including Amirul, died as suicide bombers, according to Malaysian police.