Singapore has detained eight radicalised Bangladeshi supporters of the Islamic State terror group for plotting terror attacks back home as part of efforts to overthrow the Bangladeshi government, the Home Ministry here said today.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the eight men, who were migrant workers in Singapore, were detained in April under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and were members of a secret group called Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB) that was set up in March this year.
The suspects, working in Singapore's construction and marine industries, intended to join ISIS as foreign fighters but felt that it would be difficult for them to travel to Syria and therefore focused their plans on returning home to overthrow the Bangladeshi government by using force.
Investigations showed that the group had identified several possible attack targets in Bangladesh, the ministry said.
In a document titled 'We Need for Jihad Fight' recovered from their leader and founder of ISB, Rahman Mizanur, 31, there was a list of Bangladeshi government and military officials who could be targeted for attacks, it said.
Rahman as the founder of the group also possessed documents on weapons and bomb making, as well as significant amount of ISIS and al-Qaeda material, which he used to recruit ISB members in Singapore from January this year, the ministry said.
The members had also planned to recruit other Bangladeshi nationals working in Singapore to expand their group and had raised funds to buy firearms to carry out their planned terror attacks in Bangladesh.
The ministry said their money has since been seized.
The group posed a security concern to Singapore because of its support for ISIS and its readiness to use violence overseas.
The detained ISB members are still under investigation for their activities in Singapore, the ministry said.
Rahman has said he would carry out an attack anywhere if he was instructed by ISIS, though there are no specific indications that Singapore had been selected as a target.
Several of the detained persons may also be liable for prosecution for terror financing, the ministry said.
Besides the eight detained, another five Bangladeshi workers in Singapore were also being investigated under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
While investigations showed they were not involved with ISB, they had "possessed and/or proliferated jihadi-related materials or supported the use of armed violence in pursuit of a religious cause".
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The five have been repatriated to Bangladesh, the MHA said.
"The Singapore Government takes a very serious view of any form of support for terrorism. Any person, foreigner or otherwise, who engages in any activity that is inimical to Singapore's national security and racial and religious harmony will be firmly dealt with under the law," the ministry said.
"ln this connection, foreigners should not import their own domestic political agenda into Singapore and carry out activities here in pursuit of such an agenda," it said.
This is not the first time Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested for terror-related activities.
In January, 27 men were reported to have been arrested under the ISA, and most of them had worked in Singapore for between two and seven years, according to local media reports.
