27 male Bangladeshi nationals who were working in the local construction industry were arrested by the Internal Security Department between 16 Nov and 1 Dec 2015, said the Ministry of Home Affairs in a press release today.
26 of them were members of a closed religious study group that subscribed to extremist beliefs and teachings of radical ideologues like Anwar al-Awlaki and they supported the armed jihad ideology of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The other Bangladeshi national was not a member of the group, but was found to be in the process of becoming radicalised and was supportive of extremist preachers and he also possessed jihadi-related material.
Investigations have revealed that while several members of the group had considered carrying out armed violence overseas, they were not planning any terrorist attacks in Singapore.
The Work Passes of the Bangladeshi nationals have been cancelled and 26 of them have been repatriated to Bangladesh. The remaining Bangladeshi national is currently serving a jail sentence for attempting to leave Singapore illegally and will be repatriated to Bangladesh upon completion of his sentence.
MHA said in its press release that several members of the group had a shared document containing graphic images and instruction details on how to conduct “silent killings” using different methods and weapons.