Two radicals detained under ISA
Both Singaporean men were supporters of terrorist group ISIS and had planned to travel to Syria
Two radicalised Singaporeans were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in May and July this year.
A press release from the Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday said they had planned to travel to Syria to join the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
One of them, Kuthubdeen Haja Najumudeen, 36, a licensed money-changer, had been a follower of Sri Lankan radical preacher Zahran Hashim since 2011.
Sri Lankan authorities identified Zahran as the mastermind and one of the suicide bombers involved in the terror attacks on April 21 in Sri Lanka, which killed more than 250 people and injured 500 others.
Haja had been keen on ISIS since 2013, when he first came across the terrorist group online.
Since then, he had supported its violent cause and had been actively searching for ISIS-linked atrocities online which included multiple beheading videos and footage of terror attacks.
Haja had planned to migrate to Syria to undertake an armed jihad.
But he changed his mind for fear of being killed or injured.
He was arrested in May.
Suderman Samikin, 47, was a former delivery assistant who became radicalised after hearing lectures by deceased Al-Qaeda idealogue Anwar al-Awlaki in 2013.
By Feb 2014, Suderman had been convinced by the violent ideology and was ready to fight alongside ISIS in Syria.
He believed he would die as a martyr while doing so.
A member of a pro-ISIS Facebook group, Suderman actively sought advice on how to join the terrorist group. He discovered travel routes to Syria via online sources.
Suderman also contacted two pro-ISIS foreigners who wanted to visit Singapore to buy tactical apparel for their armed conflict in Syria.
However, the visit did not materialise.
Instead, the two contacts invited Suderman to join an overseas pro-ISIS group in which they were involved.
Suderman was imprisoned from July 2014 to last month for drug consumption. He was arrested under the ISA upon his release.
In a press release yesterday, The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) warned of the dangers of seeking religious guidance from non-trustworthy sources online, particularly from overseas.
Muis said: "There is a need to remain vigilant against exclusivist and extremist teachings and it is important for family members and friends to help an individual who shows signs of radicalisation."
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