BOTA (Perak) • The Malaysian police are looking into the possibility that syndicates are providing foreign terrorist fighters with fake documents to enter the country.

National police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said yesterday that the 45 foreign terrorists nabbed in the country so far this year had used various methods to sneak into Malaysia, including with fake travel documents and student visas.

"There are also some who came into the country to study in religious institutions. We are working closely with the respective authorities, especially higher-learning institutions, to detect these militants to curb this problem," he told a press conference.

Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi had said last Friday that a total of 45 foreign militants were detained in several special operations held between January and Oct 6 this year.

The arrests were made based on intelligence that remnants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria had been instructed to infiltrate other countries to launch attacks, after losing the majority of their bases in Iraq and Syria.

Among the 45 terrorists detained by Malaysia's counter-terrorism police were nine from the Abu Sayyaf Group, three from the Turkish Fethullah Terrorist Organisation, one from an Albanian terror cell linked with ISIS and another from the Jamaatul Mujahideen which operates in Bangladesh.

Thus far, 13 have been brought to court, 12 were deported to their respective countries, seven were freed, while one has been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015. The remaining 12 are still under investigation.

Mr Mohamad Fuzi said police have also nabbed three more militants over the last three days.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK