The number is based on intelligence reports which Special Branch had received, a senior police officer from Bukit Aman told The Malaysian Insider.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officer said an accurate figure was difficult to estimate as there were many different routes to troubled Middle East countries.
On Tuesday, Wisma Putra released a statement saying 15 Malaysians had been killed in Syria while allegedly fighting for Isil, a splinter group of al-Qaeda seeking to set up an Islamic caliphate encompassing both Iraq and Syria.
Putrajaya is still waiting for confirmation on the "dead Malaysians" as it was difficult to ascertain the identities of the victims because of a lack of documentation.
"Those who have been detected travelling to Syria and Iraq to wage jihad come from different walks of life," the police officer told The Malaysian Insider.
"Some are students, some hold regular jobs, some are school dropouts. They are easily influenced by 'Internet clerics'.”
The police officer said unlike 10 years ago when militant sympathisers conducted their recruitment in religious schools, most of the recruitment now was online.
"Social media has emerged as a powerful tool for these groups to generate support and new manpower. There is also plenty of extremist material on the Internet."
The police officer revealed there were many videos posted on the Internet which challenged Muslims to rethink their lifestyles.
"Are you willing to sacrifice the fat job you have got, the big car you have, the family you have? Are you willing to sacrifice this, for the sake of Allah?
"Definitely, if you sacrifice something for Allah, Allah will give you 700 times more than this," the police officer quoted one of the videos.
"These are among the many videos available on the Internet used to influence youths and impressionable Malaysians."
The police officer warned that Malaysians who participated in jihad abroad posed a threat to national security when they returned home.
"If any Malaysian is found to have participated in a Middle East jihad, they can be charged with promoting acts of terrorism," the police officer revealed.
"Police have already detained about 16 people over the past two months for planning to participate in jihad in the Middle East."
Isil, which has seized large swathes of territory in Iraq, is also fighting in Syria and has become a magnet for jihadists from Asia and Europe.
The Sunni insurgent group reportedly seized large amounts of weaponry from the Iraqi army which fled.
On Thursday, PAS revealed that it had sacked cleric Lotfi Ariffin last month after learning the latter had signed up with a militant group fighting in Syria.
Yahoo News
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