SINGAPORE: The work permits of two Bangladeshi workers in Singapore were cancelled after they made extremist postings on social media and were investigated by the Internal Security Department (ISD) in July.
On Friday (July 17), ISD told The Straits Times Tayani Md Risad, 25, and Islam Sahedul, 37, have been repatriated to Bangladesh.
An ISD spokeswoman said the pair were separately investigated in July for their extremist postings.
In his posts, Risad expressed support for Bangladeshi radical Islamist writer Shafiur Rahman Farabi, who has incited violence against secular and atheist bloggers.
Farabi is also allegedly linked to Hizb ut-Tahrir, a fundamentalist Islamist group banned by the Bangladeshi government.
As for Sahedul, ISD said he made inflammatory posts on the Israel-Iran conflict, and also posted divisive religious views referring to Muslims who do not want to be governed under Islamic law as infidels.
The duo are not connected to any cases previously announced by the ISD concerning self-radicalised individuals who were dealt with under the Internal Security Act.
The spokeswoman said ISD’s investigations did not find any indication the men intended to conduct any terrorist attacks or were involved in terrorism activities in Singapore.
“However, their extremist and divisive views are inimical to Singapore’s multiracial and multi-religious society,” she said.
It is not known what work the pair were doing in Singapore.
Bangladesh news outlets reported the duo were detained when they arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on July 8, with the authorities seizing three phones and three passports from them.
On July 9, the pair were brought to court in Dhaka as the authorities there applied to have them remanded further.
In the application, Bangladesh police said the men admitted to being involved with militant groups while in Singapore, and more time was needed to interrogate them on their links, networks and funding sources.
During the hearing, Risad said he was detained in Singapore over Facebook posts he made in 2023, reported The Business Standard.
He said the posts were about another radical Islamist group, Hefazat-e-Islam in Bangladesh, and their leader.
While granting the application for remand, the judge questioned the men about their involvement in such groups.
He said: “You are remittance warriors. Why did you need to get involved in these matters?”
The term “remittance warriors” refers to those who leave their countries to take on hard labour jobs overseas so they can remit money back home.
In 2020, a Bangladeshi construction worker was arrested in Singapore and found to have been radicalised, intending to carry out acts of armed violence.
He had been working in Singapore from 2017, and started becoming radicalised after coming across pro-Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) materials online.
He bought foldable knives which he said he was intending to use for attacks back home.
In 2016, ISD detained eight radicalised Bangladeshi nationals employed in the local construction and marine industries.
The men were members of a clandestine group called the Islamic State in Bangladesh, and had documents on weapons and bomb making.
They had planned to recruit other Bangladeshi nationals working in Singapore to grow the group, and had raised money to purchase firearms to carry out terror attacks in Bangladesh.
As part of investigations into the group, another five Bangladeshi workers in Singapore were found to not be involved, but had jihadi-related materials. They were deported.
In 2015, 27 Bangladeshis working in the construction industry in Singapore were arrested after they formed a jihadist terror cell here and considered waging armed jihad overseas. They were later deported.
Anyone who knows or suspects that a person has been radicalised should call the ISD hotline on 1800-2626-473. - The Straits Times/ANN
