Malaysian police said on Monday that seven individuals had been arrested over alleged links to terror groups including receiving orders to plot attacks in Malaysia from overseas.

In a statement, Malaysian police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said the suspects, five Malaysians and two Filipinos, were arrested in various operations across several states from Nov. 19 until Nov. 28.

Among them is a 28-year-old Malaysian suspect from Kelantan who sold honey for a living. He received orders from a Malaysian militant leader based in Syria to carry out attacks in Malaysia.

"He was ordered to launch attacks in Malaysia and received instructions from militant leader Akel Zainal," said the official.

Malaysian police said Akel Zainal is the main Malaysian militant leader recruiting people from his home country for the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Another suspect was a 52-year-old oil and gas engineer who had channeled 14,000 ringgit (about 3,350 U.S. dollars) to another Malaysian militant, Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, based in Syria, for the purpose of carrying out attacks.

Muhammad Wanndy was believed to have been killed in Syria in April 2017, and his role as main recruiter was taken over by Akel Zainal.

One of the Filipino suspects, a 45-year-old man, was a member of the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf terror group, which is notorious for kidnapping and killing.

Fuzi said the suspect was involved in at least three kidnapping for random incidents in southern Philippines and the neighboring Sabah state of Malaysia.