Singapore Detains Two Teens Supporting Islamic State, East Asian Supremacist

Singapore: Singapore has detained two teens under the Internal Security Act – a 15-year-old girl for being an Islamic State supporter and a 17-year-old boy for being an 'East Asian Supremacist' and linked to far-right extremist ideologies, the Internal Security Department said on Wednesday.

The girl is the first female and second-youngest youth to be dealt with under the Internal Security Act (ISA), with a restriction order imposed, reported Channel News Asia. The male, who has been detained, was identified as an online contact of 18-year-old Nick Lee Xing Qiu, who was detained last December after being radicalised by violent far-right extremist ideologies.

Similar to Lee, he was identified as an 'East Asian Supremacist' and planned to attack several mosques in Singapore, the Internal Security Department (ISD) said. Singaporeans need to be alert to such cases of extremism and radicalisation, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam told reporters on Wednesday at Masjid Maarof, where the 17-year-old detainee had planned to carry out attacks.

“Those who are either on the far-right, or with tendencies towards extremism on the Islamic side, have to only get it right once and they will kill some people. So, we need to be very careful,” the Channel had the minister as saying.