Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi in a family photo posted online by his wife. Source: Facebook
Malaysia's top ISIS recruiter reportedly faked his own death and is on the run from the Islamic State after stealing donations collected by ISIS supporters in this Southeast Asian country, according to reports in local media.The developments broke only days after police publicly aired doubts that Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi had died in drone strike in ISIS' de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria. A counter-terrorism source, who wished to remain anonymous, told Channel NewsAsia that Wanndy had stolen funds from the bank account of a university student who reached out to the recruiter to secure safe passage between Turkey and ISIS-controlled regions in Syria."The subject had contacted Wanndy to get directions to Syria and had also given Wanndy her bank account number," the source told Channel NewsAsia. "After discovering that the money she had deposited into her CIMB Bank account had been used by Wanndy, she felt cheated by him."The 26-year-old medical student was arrested as part of a nationwide crackdown on Malaysian ISIS supporters. Six suspects were arrested in the sweeps after local police uncovered evidence of marriage arrangements, gun smuggling, and online recruitment efforts. One of the gun runners, who was among those trafficking arms purchased from jihadis fighting in southern Thailand, shot at officers and escaped back over the border.
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The woman, who remains unidentified, was allegedly arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on 4 April. It was her second time in police custody. In February of this year, she was detained in Turkey while waiting for Wanndy to send her instructions on when and how to cross the border and join ISIS. She had reportedly waited for months for instructions that never came.According to Channel NewsAsia, the woman was engaged to an ISIS fighter who promised to marry her as soon as she arrived in Syria. She was recruited through Facebook and WhatsApp and eventually met, and fell in love, with the jihadi online."The subject got engaged to an IS fighter by the name of Muhammad Ismail Hosain," the source said. "Ismail Hosain promised the student that he would make her his wife after she arrived in Syria."The woman is now behind bars. And Wanndy, a man who was behind Malaysia's only ISIS-linked terrorist attack, is reportedly wanted for execution by the Islamic State. The man was already on the outs with the terrorist group after failing to stage a larger attack in Malaysia or make greater in-roads with the country's sizable Muslim population.He was allegedly given a deadline of the end of the year to pull off a large-scale attack on Malaysian soil. But late last week, his wife posted news of his death to Facebook, claiming that he had been killed in a drone strike.Police were quick to dismiss the claims, but remained quiet about Wanndy's possible motivation for faking his own death. His current whereabouts remain unknown.
