International

8 Bangladeshis held in Singapore under internal security act

Eight radicalised male Bangladeshi nationals were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in April this year, said the Ministry of Home Affairs of Singapore on Tuesday.Among the eight, Rahman Mizanur was an S-Pass holder while the other seven were Work Permit holders, and were all employed in the local construction and marine industries, the press release said. The news was published on Channel News Asia, an online news portal of Singapore.The eight men are: Rahman Mizanur, 31, Mamun Leakot Ali, 29, Sohag lbrahim, 27, Miah Rubel, 26, Zzaman Daulat, 34, Islam Shariful, 27, Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul lslam Sowdagar, 30 and Sohel Hawlader, 29.PLANS ON OVERTHROWING BANGLADESHI GOVERNMENTThey were members of a secret group set up by Rahman in March this year called Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB). The members had intended to join ISIS as foreign fighters, but as they felt it would be difficult for them to travel to Syria, focused their plans instead on returning home to overthrow the government through the use of force.Their aim was to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh and bring it under ISIS self-declared caliphate, MHA said. Investigations showed that the group had identified several possible attack targets in Bangladesh. In a document titled ‘We Need for Jihad Fight’ recovered from Rahman, there was a list of Bangladeshi government and military officials who could be targeted for attack, the ministry said. The founder of the group also possessed documents on weapons and bomb making, as well as significant amount of ISIS and Al Qaeda radical material, which he used to recruit ISB members in Singapore from January this year, it added. The members had also planned to recruit other Bangladeshi nationals working here to grow their group, and had raised funds to buy firearms to carry out their planned terror attacks in Bangladesh. MHA said the money has since been seized. A SECURITY CONCERNThe group posed a security concern to Singapore because of its support for ISIS and its readiness to use violence overseas. The detained ISB members are still under investigation for their activities in Singapore, the ministry said.