KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia has arrested four foreigners and four Malaysians for suspected involvement in terrorist activities linked to Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic State and Jemaah Islamiah, the police said on Saturday.
Among the foreigners arrested were three Filipinos, one of whom is a permanent resident in Malaysia, and an Albanian.
Police said the arrested Albanian, a law lecturer at a local public university, has contact with Islamic State.
Another two arrested are former convicts, previously found guilty in 2016 of participating in terrorist activities.
One was arrested under suspicion of recruiting convicts in prison and planning an attack on Muslim, Christian and Hindu places of worship in Malaysia. The suspect is also said to harbor information about a member of the Tanzim Al-Qaeda Malaysia, a group linked to Jemaah Islamiah, who remains at large.
The other was an accomplice suspected of recruiting two Malaysians.