Twenty-seven Bangladesh nationals have been arrested in Singapore for allegedly planning terror activities, ‘The Straits Times’ has reported.
The newspaper, citing investigators, said those arrested supported the ideology of militant groups like al- Qaeda and the Islamic State.But they were not planning any attacks in Singapore, the report said quoting the home affairs ministry.The ministry, however, said some of them had considered travelling to Middle East to take part in ongoing conflicts.
It said that the men, who worked in the construction industry, were detained between Nov 16 and Dec 1last year.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, the paper said.
Among them, 26 were members of a closed religious study group which followed the teachings of radical figures including American and Yemeni Islamic lecturer Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a drone strike on Yemen in 2011.”They also carefully targeted the recruitment of other Bangladeshi nationals to grow their membership,” according to the country’s home ministry.
The remaining person is in prison for attempting to leave Singapore after learning that his fellows have been arrested. He will be repatriated after he finishes serving his sentence.The investigation also revealed that the men resented the Bangladeshi government for ‘its actions against some Islamic groups and leaders,’ said the report.
“Members were encouraged to return to Bangladesh and wage armed jihad against the Bangladeshi government. They had also sent monetary donations to entities believed to be linked to extremist groups in Bangladesh,” said the ministry.The men were found in possession of “significant amount” of jihadi materials, including books and videos of children undergoing training in what appeared as terrorist camps.
Several of them had a shared document which contained graphic images and instructions on how to conduct “silent killings” using different methods and weapons.Some are supporters of terrorist groups that killed Shi’ites who they considered to be “deviants”.
Info : thedailystar, bdnews24
