Those arrested under suspicion of being involved with the terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS) will be held separately from other prisoners, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

This to prevent those entangled with the terrorist organisation from indoctrinating other prisoners to join the movement.

“We are going to separate them because we believe they might influence other prisoners to become future terrorists or funders to the organisation,” Zahid (left) told reporters today.

He made the announcement after meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, Daniel R Russel, who raised the issue in their discussion earlier.

Among other measures, Zahid said, would be the assigning of two prisons to house those arrested for involvement with the IS.

“The prisons in Tapah and Bentong are going to be specifically for those arrested for association with IS and there, they will be separated from other prisoners as well, for security measures,” Zahid added.

Zahid also said experts will be used to free the detainees from IS ideology.

“We have experts who will try changing their minds from religious and ideological aspects,” he explained.

Zahid also disclosed that there are currently over 120 people detained on suspicion of having links with IS, including the three detained in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) last week.

He added around 67 Malaysians were involved with the IS in Syria and Iraq.

This figure which is according to police reports, however, does not include the five Malaysians who were killed in battle, the minister clarified.