“So far, we have arrested 20 suspects who are IS members, aged between 20 and 40 years old, who have been involved in financing terrorist activities since 2016.
“They consist of local people from all walks of life, like schoolteachers, policemen, military personnel, direct selling agents, university lecturers, clerics (imam) and businessmen.
“They were channelling money to IS members in Syria and the Philippines.”
Speaking at a press conference at the 3rd Counter-Terrorism Financing Summit hosted by Malaysia here today, Ayob said financing terrorist activities was not a new phenomenon.
He added however that since IS had lost its base, it now had to depend on sympathisers for funding.
“This might be in small amounts, but in many transactions. If 10,000 people channel RM10 per person, that amounts to a lot of money.”
Ayob said although he did not have details of the total amount with him, police were sure that there would be more such cases in the future.
He said the money was obtained from people who ran businesses, or those who had houses and property.
“They channel this money through Western Union and ATM machines. The amounts are small, so it’s hard to check who is doing this.”
Ayob said some of the suspects had been charged in court or held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015 (Pota) and the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca).
To monitor such activities, he said, it was essential to have good intelligence and help from the central bank.
“Without intelligence, you cannot detect or disrupt these activities. If we have intelligence, we can ask the central bank to monitor the suspects’ accounts, collect evidence, arrest and charge them.
“You cannot monitor all 32 million Malaysians, which is why we need intelligence to gain leads into suspects and their activities.”
He said non-profit organisations were also being monitored for terrorist funding.
“We are monitoring these organisations that may channel money, which is not new.
“If you look back at history at the Afghanistan war in the 80s (during the Soviet invasion), NGOs were used to channel money to Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
“In southern Philippines, they are using a similar method, so the method isn’t new. We are monitoring NGOs and charity groups as there is a possibility that these IS members are using them.”