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A statement from Singapore’s Interior Ministry on Tuesday quoted the country’s Straits Times as saying.
Young Ahmed Faisal (28) is said to have been 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 the recent violence in Europe, 36 suspects have been investigated in Singapore. It shows that Faisal was planning to attack the Hindus in Bangladesh and go to Kashmir to fight.
Faisal moved to Singapore from Bangladesh in early 2016 to work as a construction worker. Inspired by IS’s online campaign, he turned to extremism the following year.
Faisal opened several social media accounts under the false name of sharing provocative elements in the violence. He also collects knives that can be bent by violence. During questioning by Singapore officials, he confessed to planning a violent attack in his country.
The Home Office said the investigation found no evidence of Faisal’s plans to carry out violent acts in Singapore.
Speaking at an event on Tuesday, Singaporean Interior and Law Minister K Shanmugam said Faisal wanted to bring the knives to Bangladesh and attack Hindu police officers.
The Singapore minister also revealed that 15 more Bangladeshis and one Malaysian had been deported to their respective countries following the investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. He said they were sent back to the country because of their anti-French sentiments and provocative comments about the communal conflict and terrorism.
However, Singapore’s 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 school teacher was beheaded in Paris, France, one of whom was also beheaded.
The ministry said Faisal was drawn 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 in battle, 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 grant to a Syrian-based organization,” reported the Straits Times.
The Interior Ministry said Faisal supported other militant groups, including al-Qaeda and al-Shabab, based in Somalia.
He believed that Muslims had a responsibility to participate in armed jihad for people of their own religion who were being persecuted in different places.
Faisal wanted to go to Kashmir as well as Syria to fight the so-called enemies of Islam. He was preparing for it by watching a video of gun shooting online.
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