Singapore has detained a 15-year-old student, the youngest person to be held under its Internal Security Act for terrorism-related activities. Another teen has had his movements restricted.
The 15-year old was arrested in November and planned to conduct attacks in Singapore, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday. He also allegedly “harboured the desire to establish an Islamic caliphate through violent means”. A 16-year-old was placed under a restriction order that limits his movements.
Authorities around the world are seeing younger individuals being arrested for terrorism-related activities. Extremist groups are known to target youths for radicalisation, including abusing online gaming platforms and social media.
Singapore’s Internal Security Act allows for lengthy periods of preventive detention without trial.
Both youths were online contacts of Muhammad Irfan Danyal bin Mohamad Nor, who was arrested in December on suspicion of planning an Islamic caliphate in the city-state. All three of them were self-radicalised separately, authorities said.
The 15-year-old student reportedly fantasised about exploding himself and also allegedly thought of beheading non-Muslims in popular tourist areas in Singapore.
The 16-year-old had joined multiple Isis-themed servers on the online gaming platform Roblox and came across far-right extremist content online, including YouTube videos, according to authorities.
