Singapore arrests 27 Bangladesh nationals for planning terror activities abroad

Singapore has repatriated 27 Bangladesh nationals after arresting them over alleged terror plans, ‘The Straits Times’ says.

Investigations have found that they supported the armed jihad ideology of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda
and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the newspaper said in a report.

Some of them had considered waging armed jihad overseas, but were not planning any terrorist attacks in
Singapore, said the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday.

The men, who were working in the construction industry, were detained between Nov 16 and Dec 1 last year.

Of the 27, twenty-six were members of a closed religious study group that subscribed to extremist beliefs and teachings of radical figures like Anwar al-Awlaki, an American and Yemeni Islamic lecturer alleged to have ties with Al-Qaeda.

Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011.

The remaining man was not a member of the study group, but was discovered to have been undergoing radicalisation.

All 27 have had their work passes cancelled, and 26 of them have since been repatriated to Bangladesh, where the authorities were informed of the circumstances, said the country’s home ministry.

The last person has been imprisoned for attempting to leave Singapore illegally after learning of his fellow members' arrests. He will also be repatriated once he serves his sentence.

In the course of their arrests, Singapore’s Internal Security Department recovered a "significant
amount" of radical and jihadi-related material, such as books and videos containing footage of children undergoing training in what appeared to be terrorist military camps.

Several members also possessed a shared document with graphic images and instruction details on how to conduct "silent killings" using different methods and weapons, the report said.

The group members were careful to avoid detection by the authorities. They had been sharing jihadi-related materials discreetly and holding weekly gatherings to discuss armed conflicts involving
Muslims, said the ministry.