Bangladesh
Singapore Bangladeshi arrested in Singapore for plotting terrorist activities
Dhaka, November 25: A Bangladeshi man was arrested in Singapore earlier this month for involvement in terrorism-related activities. A report from Straits Times said quoting the country's Interior Ministry on Tuesday.
It said that the youth named Ahmed Faisal (26) was arrested on November 2. A preliminary investigation by the Department of Homeland Security found that he was motivated by religious extremism and wanted to carry out violent acts.
In the wake of recent violence in Europe, 37 suspects have been investigated in Singapore. It shows that Faisal was planning to attack Hindus in Bangladesh and go to Kashmir to fight.
Faisal moved to Singapore from Bangladesh in early 2017 to work as a construction worker. Inspired by IS' online campaign, he turned to extremism the following year.
Speaking at an event on Tuesday, Singapore's Home and Law Minister K Shanmugam said Faisal wanted to take the knives to Bangladesh and attack Hindu police officers.
The Singapore minister also disclosed that 15 more Bangladeshis and one Malaysian had been repatriated after the Internal Security Department's investigation. He said they were sent back to the country because of their anti-French attitude and provocative remarks on communal conflict and terrorism.
However, the Singapore Interior Ministry said Faisal was not involved in the attacks in France last month. Three people were stabbed to death in the city of Nice after a schoolteacher was beheaded in Paris, France, one of them was also beheaded.
The ministry said Faisal was attracted to the declaration of an IS caliphate in Syria and wanted to go there to fight the Syrian government on behalf of the militant group. He believed that if he died while fighting, he would become a 'martyr'.
In the middle of last year, he became loyal to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), another militant group fighting to establish a caliphate in Syria.
"Thinking that HTS would be useful in Syria, he sent a donation to a Syrian-based organization," the Straits Times reported.
The interior ministry said Faisal supported other militant groups, including al-Qaeda and the Somali-based al-Shabab. He believed that Muslims had a responsibility to take part in armed jihad for people of their own religion who were being persecuted in various places.
