Staff Reporter :
Thirteen Bangladeshi militants have been detained in Singapore for allegedly plotting terror attacks in Bangladesh. Of them, five have been sent back home while the rest eight were undergoing interrogation by the security agencies in Singapore.
Disclosing the matter, Chief of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit Monirul Islam on Tuesday said, “Thirteen suspected Bangladeshi militants were detained in Singapore last month [in April]. Of them, five were sent back home. All of them were working in Singapore as labour for the last seven years.”
Dhaka Police arrested the five persons conducting raid in the city’s Banasree area at about 11:00am on Tuesday. The arrestees are: Mizanur Rahman alias Galib Hassan, 38, Mia Pilot, 29, Alamgir Hossain, 31, Tanjimul Islam, 24, and Masud Rana alias Santu Khan, 31.
“We’ve nabbed the five suspects in Dhaka. Eight others arrested by Singapore police are still at their custody. We’re verifying whether the five arrestees have any connection with the militant network. We suspect they believe in militancy. They will be produced before court on Wednesday,” said Monirul Islam, who is also Additional Police Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Earlier in the morning, the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement announced that eight Bangladeshi men working in Singapore, who were planning to stage terror attacks back home, have been detained under the Internal Security Act [ISA].
The men, aged between 26 and 34, called their group the Islamic State in Bangladesh [ISB] and intended to join terror group ISIS as foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq.
But as it was difficult to travel to the Middle East, they focused on returning to Bangladesh to topple their government through violent means, set up an Islamic State there, and bring it under the self-declared caliphate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS].
As part of the crackdown on ISB, another five Bangladeshi workers were investigated under the ISA. The ministry said investigations showed that they were not involved in ISB.
But they “possessed and/or proliferated jihadi-related materials, or supported the use of armed violence in pursuit of a religious cause”. All five have been repatriated to Bangladesh.
According to The Straits Times [of Singapore], the eight Bangladeshis were detained last month [April 2016], in the first ISA detentions involving a terror cell of foreign workers.
Late last year, a closed religious study group of 27 radicalised Bangladeshi workers who had a significant amount of extremist material in their possession were arrested under the ISA, and deported. Their deportations were made public in January.
But in the latest case, the ministry said its investigations found that the men had identified possible targets for attack back home at the time of their arrest.
They also had documents on weapons and bomb making, and raised funds to buy firearms to carry out the attacks in Bangladesh. An undisclosed amount of money has been seized from them.
The group’s ringleader, Rahman Mizanur, 31, was an S-Pass holder in construction who set up ISB as a clandestine group in March this year.
He recruited the other seven, all Work Permit holders employed in the local construction and marine industries.
They are: ; Islam Shariful, 27; Mamun Leakot Ali, 29; Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul Islam Sowdagar, 30; Miah Rubel, 26; Rahman Mizanur, 31; Sohag Ibrahim, 27; Sohel Hawlader Ismail Hawlader, 29, and Zzaman Daulat, 34.
“ISB poses a security concern to Singapore because of its support for ISIS and its readiness to resort to the use of violence overseas,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on the detentions.
“The detained ISB members are still under investigation for their activities in Singapore. Rahman Mizanur has said that he would carry out an attack anywhere if he was instructed by ISIS to do so, though there are no specific indications that Singapore had as yet been selected as a target,” the ministry added.
Several of those detained may be liable for prosecution for terrorism financing, it said.
The detentions come at a time of mounting concern that ISIS is winning recruits from Bangladesh, which has recently seen radicals carrying out deadly attacks on minorities.
The ministry said a document titled “We Need for Jihad Fight” was recovered from Rahman Mizanur, which contained a list of Bangladeshi government and military officials who could be targeted. It included “media people” and “disbelievers”.
He also possessed documents on weapons and bomb making, as well as a significant amount of ISIS and Al-Qaeda radical materials which he used to recruit ISB members in Singapore from January 2016.
“The ISB members planned to recruit other Bangladeshi nationals working in Singapore to grow the group,” the ministry added.
It said the Singapore Government takes a very serious view of any form of support for terrorism.
“Any person, foreigner or otherwise, who engages in any activity that is inimical to Singapore’s national security and racial and religious harmony will be firmly dealt with under the law. In this connection, foreigners should not import their own domestic political agenda into Singapore and carry out activities here in pursuit of such an agenda,” it added.
The ministry said anyone who knows or suspects that a person has been radicalised, or is engaging in terrorist activities or propagating extremist teachings, should promptly inform the Internal Security Department on 1800-2626-473 or the police on 999.
Later on Tuesday, Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs Amrin Amin said the arrests are a reminder that Singapore has to take terrorist threat seriously.
In a Facebook post, Mr Amin said, “The detainees and their likes pose a security concern to Singapore because of their support for ISIS and their readiness to resort to violence. Though there are no specific indications that Singapore had been selected as a target, one of the detainees has said he would carry out an attack anywhere if he was so instructed by ISIS.
Thank you to our security agencies for their decisive handling! Stay alert, stay united and stay strong! ?#?SGSecure?,” he posted. Bangladesh High Commissioner in Singapore, Mahabub Uz Zaman, said, “Singapore authority arrested a total of 13 Bangladeshi nationals in suspicion of involvement with militant network. Of them, five persons have been sent to Bangladesh and eight are kept in the custody of Singapore police.”
“Two countries [Bangladesh and Singapore] are working very closely over the militancy issue. Bangladesh never supports militancy or extremism. So, Bangladesh is cooperating Singapore over the issue……Earlier, the Singapore authority detained 27 suspected Bangladeshis in connection with militant linkage,” the envoy said.
