Singapore said on Wednesday it had arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers late in 2015 for supporting “the armed jihad ideology of terrorist groups” and deported 26 of them.
Singapore said on Wednesday it had arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers late in 2015 for supporting “the armed jihad ideology of terrorist groups” and deported 26 of them.
The workers were being groomed to return to their home country to wage holy war and had studied booklets on assassination techniques, the ministry of home affairs said in a statement.
Home affairs minister K. Shanmugam added in a Facebook post that while the group were planning attacks overseas, “they could have easily changed their minds and attacked Singapore”.
Several of members of the group also contemplated joining “armed jihad” with ISIS in Iraq and Syria, according to the MHA.
The 27 men, aged between 25 and 40, were arrested between November 16 and December 1 in 2015 under Singapore’s Internal Security Act.
They all worked in construction in Singapore, where large numbers of labourers mostly from South Asia live in often cramped dormitories.
“The group members took measures to avoid detection by the authorities. They shared jihadi-related material discreetly among themselves, and held weekly meetings and gatherings where they discussed armed jihad and conflicts that involved Muslims,” the ministry said, adding that the group was also actively recruiting members.
One of the group was not deported and is serving a jail sentence for attempting to flee Singapore after learning about the arrests of the other members.
He will be repatriated to Bangladesh after he completes his sentence. The man was said not to have been a member of the group but was “in the process of being radicalised”.
