Singapore deported 26 Bangladeshis for terror links

Singapore disclosed Wednesday it arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers late last year 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 some had studied booklets on assassination techniques, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.

Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said in a separate Facebook post that while they 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" in the Middle East, according to the MHA.

The 27 were arrested under Singapore's Internal Security Act.

"They supported the armed jihad ideology of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," the ministry said in the statement.

Officials said the Bangladeshis, arrested between November 16 and December 1 last year, 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.

Shanmugam said the group held meetings regularly at a mosque.

The group was also actively recruiting members, the ministry said.

The MHA confirmed that the group's 26 members have been deported, while the remaining Bangladeshi 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".

- 'Silent killings' -
According to the ministry's statement, the group's members were encouraged to return to Bangladesh and "wage armed jihad" against the government there, while some had sent money to terror-linked entities in their country.

The ministry said the 27, aged between 25 and 40, possessed radical and jihadi-related materials, including footage of children undergoing training in what seemed to be militant camps.

Excerpts from a video released by the ministry showed young boys dressed in black and wearing white caps firing pistols and automatic rifles during training.

A document that contained graphic images and instructions on how to carry out "silent killings", using different methods and weapons, was was also being shared among members.

An extract from a document, entitled "Techniques of Silent Killing" and released by the ministry, showed three drawings of a man approaching a seated victim from behind, covering the victim's mouth with one hand and stabbing him with a knife.

Singapore authorities in late 2001 foiled an attempt to carry out bomb attacks on US and other foreign targets in the city-state, arresting several suspects in the process.

"The government takes a very serious view of any form of support for terrorism and will take firm and decisive action against any person who engages in any activity in support of terrorism," the ministry said.

"Foreigners are guests of our country and they should not abuse this privilege and use Singapore as a base to import their own domestic political agenda and carry out activities in pursuit of such an agenda."

The announcement of the arrests came less than a week after militants mounted attacks in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, leaving at least eight people dead, including four suspected attackers.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the coordinated bomb and gun assault on a central thoroughfare in the capital.

Singaporean officials have said that the city-state remains a target by militants because of the presence of a large number of multinational corporations and its status as a regional financial centre.

Singaporean police and civil defence forces carried out nationwide anti-terror exercises on Monday and Tuesday to test their readiness.

"We hope terror attacks don't happen here, but we have to be prepared," Shanmugam said Tuesday after observing the exercises.

Source: AFP