S'pore arrests, deports self-radicalised M'sian worker

SINGAPORE – A self-radicalised Malaysian who worked for an airfreight company here has been deported after being arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) last month, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Friday (Feb 9).

Muhammad Nur Hanief Abdul Jalil, 33, worked as a driver with the company and had access to the Changi Airfreight Centre, a restricted area. The centre provides airfreight services to Changi Airport.

Investigations did not point to Hanief having attempted to radicalise others or planned to launch terrorist attacks in Singapore. "(But) his radicalisation renders him a security threat to Singapore. His work pass was therefore cancelled, and he was repatriated to Malaysia in Feb 2018," the MHA said in a statement.

The ministry said the Malaysian had been going online since 2008 to peruse the teachings by foreign extremist preachers such as Imran Hosein, Zakir Naik and Anjem Choudary.

He was also influenced by Ismail Menk and Haslin Baharim, who propagated segregationist and divisive teachings and were banned from entering Singapore last year. Ismail – better known as Mufti Menk, originally from Zimbabwe – as well as Malaysian Haslin had been engaged to preach on an Islamic-themed cruise which was to depart and end in Singapore last November.

Hanief became convinced that he should travel to Syria or Palestine to take part in the armed conflict, and decided to act on his plan late last year, after suffering setbacks in his work and personal life.

Believing that all militant groups would ultimately unite at the "end-of-times", Hanief was prepared to join any group there, including the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Free Syrian Army, or Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (previously known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham or Jabhat al-Nusra), added MHA.

He proceeded to contact the foreign preacher Haslin to seek his advice on whether he would "become a martyr if he was killed in a conflict zone in Syria".

The MHA said Hanief held various jobs in Singapore since 2011. He was arrested under the ISA last month. His work pass was cancelled and he was deported to Malaysia this month.

The Malaysian police have taken Hanief into custody, and he is being detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) for further investigation, TODAY understands. Sosma replaced the repealed Internal Security Act in 2012 and is used by Putrajaya to combat terrorism.

Under Sosma, police may detain a suspect for 28 days and withhold legal representation for two days.

On the fact that Hanief had access to a restricted area, Singapore's Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam stressed that “every case of radicalisation is serious”, regardless of the circumstances. “We take this very seriously. We’ve been aware of these risks in different sectors for some time. We have taken and will continue to take steps that are doable, that are within our power to take,” he said.

Mr Shanmugam also noted that curbing access to radical online content is a challenge. “But we have got to be realistic about the extent to which we can deal with it. The real antidote is to get our people to go to our mosques, and also look at the content that Muis (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) and our Muslim leaders put out,” he said. He added: “So it is a fight for the hearts and minds, and we have to go in and fight, and point out what is wrong with some of these teachings and what is necessary for us to survive as a multi-racial and multi-religious country.”

In a separate update, the MHA also said the restriction orders issued against four self-radicalised Singaporeans were allowed to lapse after they expired last December.

One of them was Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) member Mohd Azmi Ali, 49, who was arrested overseas after he fled Singapore in December 2001 following security operations against the JI. He was released from detention in December 2013 and subsequently placed on a Restriction Order.

Muhammad Zamri Abdullah, 36, was detained under ISA in December 2007 after he was radicalised through radical propaganda in publications, videos and the Internet, and attempted to make arrangements to participate in militant jihad overseas. After his release from detention, he was placed on Restriction Orders in December 2011.

Zakaria Rosdan, 27, and Muhammad Khairul Sofri Osman, 33, were placed on a Restriction Order without being detained in December 2013, after they were radicalised from viewing radical online videos and websites and were inspired to undertake violent jihad in places of conflict like Syria.