8 Bangladeshi militant suspects held in S�pore
Arrestees �plotted attacks back home�; five
deported �militants� arrested: DB
Singapore has detained eight Bangladeshi men planning to stage terror attacks in their home country. They have been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), according to a news report in The Straits Times. The men, aged 26 to 34, were working in Singapores construction and marine industries, the government said. The Singapore ministry of home affairs yesterday made the announcement through a press release that coincides with a number of recent killings by suspected militants in Bangladesh. Islamist militants in Bangladesh have targeted atheist bloggers, academics, religious minorities and foreign aid workers in a series of killings that began in February 2015. Meanwhile, additional commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of Bangladesh, Monirul Islam, yesterday said the Singapore government had detained them on charges of being involved in militant activities back home in Bangladesh. At a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre, he said police have also arrested five Bangladeshi nationals, who had been deported from Singapore, from different parts of the city. According to the press release by the Singapore home affairs ministry, another five Bangladeshi workers in Singapore were investigated under the ISA. Investigations showed that they were not involved in Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB), but nevertheless possessed and/or proliferated jihadi-related materials, or supported the use of armed violence for a religious cause. They had been repatriated to Bangladesh, it added. Islam said they (the militants) had been accused of working to enlist support from other people and collect financial and other assistance from them. He further said they had also been accused of organising people to carry out militant activities. According to media reports, the detained men called their group the ISB, and intended to join terror group ISIS as foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq.
Finding it difficult to travel to the Middle East, they planned to return to Bangladesh to topple the government through violent means, set up an Islamic state there, and bring it under the self-declared caliphate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Straits Times report said it was the first detention under the ISA involving a terror cell of foreign workers. Late last year, a closed religious study group of 27 radicalised Bangladeshi workers, who had a significant amount of extremist material in their possession, were arrested under the ISA, and deported. Their deportations were made public in January. However, in the latest case, the ministry said its investigations found that the men had identified possible targets for attack back home at the time of their arrests.
They also had documents on weapons and bomb-making and raised funds to buy firearms to carry out the attacks in Bangladesh. An undisclosed amount of money had been seized, the newspaper said. The groups ringleader, Rahman Mizanur, 31, was an S-Pass holder in the construction industry, who set up the ISB as a clandestine group in March this year.
He recruited the other seven, all Work Permit holders, employed in the local construction and marine industries. They are: Mamun Leakot Ali, 29; Sohag Ibrahim, 27; Miah Rubel, 26; Zzaman Daulat, 34; Islam Shariful, 27; Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul Islam Sowdagar, 30; and Sohel Hawlader Ismail Hawlader, 29.
ISB poses a security concern to Singapore because of its support for ISIS and its readiness to resort to the use of violence overseas, the Singapore ministry of home affairs said in a statement.
The detained ISB members are still under investigation for their activities in Singapore. Rahman Mizanur said he would carry out an attack anywhere if he was instructed by ISIS to do so, though there are no specific indications that Singapore had as yet been selected as a target, the ministry added. Several of those detained may be liable for prosecution for terrorism financing, it said.
The detentions come at a time of mounting concern that ISIS is winning recruits from Bangladesh, which has recently seen radicals carrying out deadly attacks on minorities. The ministry said a document, titled We Need For Jihad Fight, was recovered from Rahman Mizanur, which contained a list of Bangladeshi government and military officials who could be targeted. It included media people and disbelievers. He also possessed documents on weapons and bomb-making, as well as a significant amount of ISIS and al-Qaeda radical materials, which he used to recruit the ISB members in Singapore from January 2016. The ISB members planned to recruit other Bangladeshi nationals working in Singapore to grow the group, the ministry added. The ministry has 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 Singapores national security and racial and religious harmony will be firmly dealt with under the law. In 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 added. The ministry said anyone who knows or suspects that a person has been radicalised, or is engaging in terrorist activities or propagating extremist teachings, should promptly inform the Internal Security Department on 1800-2626-473 or the police on 999. Parliamentary secretary for home affairs, Amrin Amin, yesterday said the arrests are a reminder that Singapore has to take the terrorist threat seriously. In a Facebook post, Amin said: The detainees and their like pose a security concern to Singapore because of their support for ISIS and their readiness to resort to violence. Though there are no specific indications that Singapore had been selected as a target, one of the detainees has said he would carry out an attack anywhere if he was so instructed by ISIS.
