A schoolgirl who was detained by the police for allegedly wanting to join the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) militant group in Syria had told her family she wanted to further her studies at a religious school.This was according to the 14-year-old's uncle and a schoolmate.
The 52-year-old uncle reeled in shocked when informed the teenager was nabbed on Tuesday at the KL International Airport on suspicion of wanting to join the militant group in Syria.
"I didn't know my niece was detained until you (reporters) told me... her relations with her family are good and there are no problems... and she is even close to her friends at school.
"She is the eldest of three children and their mother died a few years ago. Recently, she wanted to study at a religious school," he told reporters when met at his house in a village in Muar, Johor, today.
One of the suspect's friends said the girl had told him that she wanted to learn more about religion by furthering her studies at a religious school.
"We were shocked that she wanted to join the Isis...she is friendly and quite smart in her studies," said the 16-year-old schoolboy.
On February 17, a team from the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Unit in Kuala Lumpur detained the schoolgirl at the airport on suspicion she was planning to join Isis in Syria.
According to the police, the girl was influenced by extremist ideology after interacting with two people on Facebook, before deciding to leave the country for Egypt to marry her boyfriend and later join the Isis militant group in Syria.
The girl is being investigated under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.
The teenage suspect was a student at a religious school in Shah Alam, Selangor.
Inspector-heneral of police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar recently reiterated his call to parents to monitor the movements of their children to thwart extreme beliefs from influencing them.
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