A 16-year-old male student was arrested at a supermarket in Sungai Petani, Kedah yesterday after he was suspected of being involved with the so-called IS militant group or Daesh terrorists.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the teenager was arrested by the Kedah Criminal Investigation Department under the Security Offences Act (Special Measures) (SOSMA) 2012 and was now at Bukit Aman's (Federal Police's) Special Branch for further investigations.

Khalid said police arrested the teenager who was dressed in black with Daesh-style face cover when he tried to intimidate a woman while brandishing a knife in the supermarket.

"The teenager is a student of religious school in Sungai Petani and was found to be influenced by Daesh propaganda over the social media.

"Investigations revealed that the teenager did not intend to harm the woman," he told reporters after attending the monthly Bukit Aman assembly here today.

Elaborating, he said such incidents were worrying and showed that Daesh's influence could not be taken lightly.

"I hope Malaysians will realise that this is a real threat and they have to be careful. IS (Daesh) threats do exist and require everyone's attention from time to time," he said.

Earlier, Khalid, in his speech, said the police had taken action and succeeded in arresting a total of 82 Daesh elements, 73 of whom were Malaysians, last year.

"The figure clearly shows an increase compared to 2014 which saw 59 arrests, 47 of whom were locals.

"The increase in arrests shows that IS (Daesh) elements are gaining the local community's sympathy and the police will continue to double their efforts to prevent these elements from getting a foothold and flourishing in Malaysia," he said.