Malaysia has unwittingly become a "dumping ground" for foreigners who were turned away from Syria for trying to join the Islamic State, reported the New Straits Times today.
Quoting intelligence sources, the report said over 30 such individuals, including some who are flagged as "high risk", had been sent to Malaysia without the knowledge of Malaysian authorities - made possible by Malaysia's visa-free travel policy to a host of nations, and its Muslim nation status.
"We don't exactly know who they are, but they were not supposed to be sent to Malaysia. We have become a dumping ground, and this is likely cause, not only are we a visa-free nation to visit for many countries, we are also a Muslim nation," said one source quoted by the daily.
According to the source, these foreigners departed from many countries before being arrested in Istanbul, Turkey, and instead of being deported to their last port of disembarkation, as normal procedures stipulate, they were given the option to be sent to Malaysia.
Counterterrorism operatives are now scouring the ground with little intelligence to identify and keep tabs on these individuals, whose travel status is marked as tourists, added the source.
So far, 28 such foreigners have been reportedly traced.
The source said further that some of the countries that wanted to rid persona non grata individuals from their soil, would even assist the latter to secure travel documents for them to enter Malaysia as tourists.
In several instances, Malaysian authorities were only alerted of such deportations well after the individuals have entered the country, but by then, they had already gone under the radar.
According to NST, Malaysia has filed an informal objection to one of the countries which frequently sends foreigners arrested on its soil for security reasons to Malaysia.
Bukit Aman Special Branch Counterterrorism division principal assistant director Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, in acknowledging the "dangerous" trend, said such practices raise the possibility of attacks being planned in Malaysia by the deported foreigners.
