After the Singapore authorities announced on Wednesday that they had arrested and deported three dozens of Bangladeshi workers for suspected militant links, many Bangladeshis living in the Republic have condemned their plans of waging armed jihad.
Many Singaporeans and Bangladeshis have denounced their acts and were relieved as the alleged militants had been found out before any harm was done. Some said they were embarrassed, according to local newspaper The Strait Times.
Bangladeshi nationals in the Little India area who spoke to the newspaper said that they were aware of religious extremism back home, but the arrest of radicals in Singapore surprised them.
“Singapore is very safe and secure ... and we like it this way. I hope that Singaporeans here will not think all of us are terrorists,” said Nuruzzaman, 32, a construction worker.
Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to Singapore Mahbub Uz Zaman also condemned the actions of the 27 people – arrested between November 16 and December 1 last year under the Internal Security Act. He, however, stressed that most Bangladeshis are peace-loving and law-abiding.
Speaking to The Straits Times at Angullia Mosque in Little India, Zaman said that the Singapore government was “right in sending them back.”
Zaman said that his embassy would visit workers in their dormitories. “We will inform them that they are to follow the laws here and not get involved in illegal activities.”
But he highlighted that the 27 are “not representatives of the Bangladeshi community.” He stressed that Bangladeshis here belong to “a peace-loving community that follows the rules of the countries they are residing in,” which has also contributed to society.
Currently, there are around 1,60,000 Bangladeshi nationals staying in Singapore. Most of them are working at construction sites.
All but one of the 27 detainees, who were planning to wage armed jihad in Bangladesh, had been deported. The remaining one is serving a jail term for trying to leave Singapore illegally. He will also be deported after he serves his time.
The law enforcers in Dhaka confirmed that some of them were followers of radical preacher Jasim Uddin Rahmani, the chief of outlawed militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team. The group claimed responsibilities for the murder of several secularists since 2013.
Police said that the 26 people had been detained after they landed in Dhaka. Following investigation, 14 were shown arrested in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act while the others were released since the police had not found their involvement in militant activities.
DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam yesterday said that the deported workers had no direct involvement with any militant outfit. Fourteen of them are followers of Ansarullah, and now in jail.
In primary interrogation, they confessed that they are the followers of Rahmani, controversial Indian cleric Dr Zakir Naik, and war crimes convict Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.
Monirul, also the chief of DB police, said that they would monitor the activities of the 12 others, who had been handed over to their families after interrogation.
Home Ministry just informed
The Detective Branch of police formally informed the Home Ministry about the arrest of the 27 Bangladeshis yesterday. Two DB officials handed over a letter to a close official of the home minister at the ministry.
Officials said that the 26 people were deported in the first week of December and a case was filed against 14 of them on December 21. DB Inspector Ezaz Shafi is investigating the case.
These accused are Golam Jilani, 26, Mahmudul Hasan, 30, and Nurul Amin, 26, of Comilla; Abdul Amin, 33, Aminur, 31, and Shah Alam of Tangail; Jafar Iqbal, 27, of Brahmanbaria; Alam Mahbub, 34, of Kurigram; Mohammad Jashim, 33, of Munshiganj; Abdul Ali, 40, of Chuadanga; Saiful Islam, 36, of Dhaka; Dollar Parvez, 35, of Chapainawabganj; Asharaf Ali, 27, of Pabna; and Akram Hossain, 27, of Jhenaidah. Names of the 12 released persons were not mentioned in the letter.
Grouping began in 2013
Aged between 25 and 40, most of the 27 detainees had worked in Singapore for two to seven years. These work permit holders were not concentrated in any particular construction company or workplace, nor were they concentrated in a particular residential area.
But they met every week to discuss taking up arms, and even used the premises of a few local mosques, according to The Strait Times.
The 26 deported persons were members of a mosque-based secret religious study group that began working in 2013, the newspaper reported quoting government authorities. Their number grew by the end of last year.
The Singapore authorities, however, have not clarified how they detected the group.
