A Syria-based Malaysian has been identified by Malaysian police for being the mastermind who has been pulling the strings of several militants and plotting terror attacks in the country, The Straits Times Online reported on Monday.

26-year old Muhammad Wanndy Mohamad Jedi who ran away to Syria with his wife in January actively uses social media to contact Malaysian militants to plot attacks or to persuade them to join him in war-ravaged Syria, police sources said.

Wanndy was already blamed by authorities for directing a group of men to plot a June attack on a nightclub. On June 28, two militants on a motorcycle lobbed a hand grenade at a smaller nightclub called Movida in Puchong, Selangor, injuring eight people.

Police said that was the first successful strike in Malaysia by the IS terror group.

Wanndy’s name came up again after police rounded up more than a dozen IS supporters in several raids over the past two weeks. Three of them have been taking orders from him.

Police said two of them, arrested while hiding in a hut in remote Kuala Krai in Kelantan, were part of the group that plotted the nightclub attack. The two were waiting for new orders from Wanndy to attack a Johor entertainment outlet. A third man was arrested later.

Malaysia is battling the threat fom IS with at least 240 people arrested, 30 of them foreigners. Of these, 48 were convicted and 77 others have been charged and the rest 59 released from investigations.

Malaysian man plots terror attacks in Malaysia from Syria - Thai PBS English News