Malaysian Police Say Bomb Plot on Top Officers Foiled, 14 Held

The suspects included a senior Daesh member who is believed responsible for recruiting a Malaysian Daesh terrorist, Abu Ghani Yaacob, who was killed in Syria on April 17, Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement.

"Based on a search, police managed to seize one completed IED weighing one kilogram, for use in a planned attack on the top PDRM leadership," Khalid said in a statement, using the Malay acronym for the Royal Malaysian Police, and referring to an improvised explosive device, or bomb, Reuters reported.

Malaysia's security agencies are on guard against Daesh spreading in the multi-ethnic Southeast Asian nation.

Khalid said police believe the 49-year-old senior Daesh member detained in the northern state of Kedah was an active recruiter and was responsible for arranging for Daesh members to travel to Syria.

A 43-year-old woman who was believed to have been planning to sneak into the South Philippines to join the Daesh-aligned Abu Sayyaf group was detained in a separate raid in Perak state.

The 12 others detained in separate operations in various places including the capital, Kuala Lumpur, are believed to be from the same cell, Khalid said.

One of the suspects was believed to have passed on bomb-making instructions at the behest of a Malaysian Daesh recruiter based in Syria identified as Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi.

The 14 suspects are aged between 20 and 49, and include cooks, a mechanic, a welder and a student.

Police did not identify any of them.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this year police had foiled an Daesh plot to kidnap Prime Minister Najib Razak and other senior ministers last year.

While both Al-Qaeda and Daesh have recruited Malaysians, there has been no significant attack by either group inside the country.