Malaysia's police said Saturday that it had arrested five people, including a European employed as a teacher, on suspicion of links with militant groups like the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.
Malaysia is on heightened alert after reports Friday that ten Syrians linked to the Islamic State entered neighboring Thailand in October to attack Russian interests.
Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement that four of those arrested were foreign nationals and one was a Malaysian. The arrests were made between Nov. 17 and Dec. 1.
Among them was a 44-year-old European who was employed as a temporary teacher in the state of Penang, and had links with al-Qaida and allegedly participated in militant activities in Afghanistan and Bosnia, the police said.
Three other suspects — a 31-year-old Indonesian man, a Malaysian and a Bangladeshi — were part of a cell linked to the Islamic State group and were tasked with recruiting volunteers to take part in militant activities overseas.
The leader of the cell was the Indonesian who is said to have vowed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi through Facebook in 2014.
"He, along with the Malaysian national, is suspected of acting as facilitator to organize individuals from Malaysia and some Southeast Asian countries to join the Islamic State in Syria," Khalid said.
Southeast Asia faces the threat of Islamic State-inspired attacks designed to "glamorize terrorism," a Malaysian minister said last month, voicing fears of battle-hardened fighters returning from Syria to launch Paris-style attacks.
In September, Malaysian police thwarted a plot to detonate bombs in Kuala Lumpur's vibrant tourist area of Bukit Bintang.