The threat of extremism is closer than ever before, with two auxiliary police officers arrested this month under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for terrorism-related offences, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Both of the AETOS officers worked at Woodlands Checkpoint in different duties. 24-year-old Muhammad Khairul bin Mohamed was deployed to the AETOS Traffic Enforcement Division as an outrider, while 36-year-old Mohamad Rizal bin Wahid was deployed as an armed officer conducting general security duties.
But it was Khairul who was issued an Order of Detention for his intention to undertake armed violence in Syria. His path to radicalism started from as far back as 2012, after he went online to read up on the conflict in Syria — that was when he developed the view that the strife was a war between Sunni Islam and Shi’ite Islam.
Being a Sunni Muslim, he wanted to join the Free Syrian Army to fight Shi’ites in Syria. His obsession with the conflict led him to believe strongly in a “holy war”, of which he was prepared to die in battle as a “martyr”.
In 2014, Khairul tried to make contact with a foreign militant via Facebook and reached out to two other individuals he believed to be supporters of the Free Syrian Army.
“His readiness and proclivity to resort to violence in pursuit of a religious cause makes him a security threat to Singapore,” wrote MHA.
Rizal, however, was a different story — he had no intention of participating in armed violence. What he did was support Khairul’s intentions to fight in Syria, and he even gave suggestions to his colleague about the various ways to get to the country.
“As an Auxiliary Police Officer, he should have been aware of the prevailing terrorism threat and his failure to dissuade Khairul and report him to his superior officer was a serious lapse of judgment,” said the ministry.
As such, Rizal was issued with a Restriction Order (RO) for supporting his colleague’s intentions. What this means is that Rizal is not permitted to change his residence or employment, or travel out of Singapore, without the prior approval of the Director ISD. Nor is he able to issue public statements, address public meetings or print, distribute, contribute to any publication, hold office in, or be a member of any organization, association or group without the prior approval of Director ISD.
This makes a total of three terrorism-related cases transpiring on our shores this month alone. Last week, MHA revealed that a 22-year-old radicalized woman was detained under the ISA for intending to travel to Syria with her child to join terrorist group ISIS — she even wanted to settle down with an ISIS fighter. Her family knew of her warped perspectives, but didn’t report the woman to the authorities earlier.
Similar to the case of the radicalized woman, several relatives and friends of Khairul knew of his intention to fight in Syria, but none came forward to the authorities.
“We take this opportunity to re-iterate that it is important for anyone who knows that a friend or relative may be radicalised or intends to undertake acts of violence should report him or her to the authorities,” MHA reminded the public.
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