Chilling tale of S’porean wanna-be terrorist

A 20-year-old full-time National Service (NSF) man Muhammad Fadil Abdul Hamid has been detained for two years under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Channel News Asia reports that Muhammad Fadil first began intensively surfing the Internet for jihadist propaganda and videos while studying in a local polytechnic. He did not complete his studies. Over time, he became deeply influenced by radical lectures by speakers like Anwar al Awlaki and Sheikh Feuz Muhammad.

He even went as far as to initiate online communication with Anwar al-Awlaki – also known as the “Osama Bin Laden” of the internet and a senior Al Qaeda recruiter – and expressed his desire to fight alongside him as a jihad warrior. He also showed interest in travelling to places like Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.

He became convinced it was his religious duty to strive for martyrdom and undertake armed jihad alongside fellow militants.

The NS man also made online contact with a suspected Al-Qaeda recruiter who encouraged him to fight in Afghanistan.

In his quest to undertake militant jihad overseas, he went online in search of information on bomb-making, and even produced and posted a video glorifying martyrdom and justifying suicide bombing.

Muhammad Fadil was detained under the ISA in early April.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Muhammad Fadil did not undertake nor did he have any plans to undertake jihad-related activities in Singapore. They claim his intentions were only to pursue these activities overseas.

However, Muhammad Fadil is not alone. The MHA said two other Singaporeans have been placed on Restriction Orders (ROs) for two years from June 23.

One of them is 44-year-old Muhammad Anwar Jailani, an unaccredited religious teacher who distributed contacts and audio recordings of Anwar al Awlaki’s lectures to his students and the general public. He also called on Muslims to undertake militant jihad against “enemies” of Islam.

The other detainee is 27-year-old Muhammad Thahir Shaik Dawood, a student of Muhammad Anwar who travelled to Yemen to enrol in an education institution run by an associate of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. However, he eventually developed doubts about armed jihad and preferred other methods of jihad like pursuing knowledge and performing good deeds.

Although he withdrew from the Yemeni institution, he was still investigated by the Internal Security Department (ISD).

Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) commented that Muhammad Fadil’s detention under the ISA is a case of an individual who took the wrong path. It said he was an NSF trainee undergoing section leader training in Pasir Laba Camp at the time of his arrest.

MINDEF also said there are appropriate security processes and systems at the national level to monitor and guard against potential security threats and that it will continue to maintain a high degree of vigilance against potential threats.