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| Singapore (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Rui Hao Puah
The incident marks the first time a foreign jihadist terror cell has been uncovered in the city-state.
On January 20, Singapore unveiled that it had uncovered a jihadist terror cell comprising Bangladeshi workers and had moved to arrest and deport the suspected militants. The incident marked the first time a foreign terror cell had been uncovered in the city-state.
According to Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs, 27 male Bangladeshi nationals, all working the construction industry, were arrested under Singapore’s Internal Security Act (ISA) between Nov 16 and Dec 1, 2015. 26 of them have been repatriated to Bangladesh, with one remaining national serving a 12-week jail sentence in Singapore after attempting to leave the republic clandestinely. 14 of the 26 have been given jail sentences by a Dhaka Court on Dec 27 in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
All but one of the 27 arrested were reported to be members of a closed religious study group that supported armed jihad ideology of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The remaining Bangladeshi national was not a member of the group but was found in possession of jihadist-related material. The 26 reportedly subscribed to the teaching of radical ideologue Anwar al-Awlaki, an Al-Qaeda linked extremist teacher who was killed in Yemen in 2011.
Read the full story at The Diplomat