Radicalised Bangladeshis swore oath to ISIS leader at HDB block
A police armoured vehicle said to be carrying two of the six Bangladeshis charged for their role in terrorism financing (Photo: Bryan Huang/Yahoo Singapore)
At a HDB void deck in Sembawang in January, four Bangladeshis working in Singapore swore an oath to the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and planned to form a splinter group of the extremist organisation in Bangladesh.
Led by Rahman Mizanur, a draftsman, who later recruited three other Bangladeshis, the group planned to wage an armed jihad against non-believers in their country and kill them.
Rahman and the other Bangladeshis, who were working as construction workers, were prepared to contribute part of their salaries to the cause. Some of them even have designated roles to handle financial, legal and media matters for the group.
The details of the group’s plot were revealed in court on Tuesday (31 May) as four of them - Rahman Mizanur, 31, Miah Rubel, 26, Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul Isam Sowdagar, 31, and Sohel Hawlader Ismail Hawlader, 29 - pleaded guilty to charges of terrorism financing. Two others - Mamun Leakot Ali, 29, and Zzaman Daulat, 34 - are claiming trial to similar charges.
The six were charged in court last week, the first time that the law on terrorism financing had been used in Singapore. They were also among the eight Bangladeshis who were arrested under the Internal Security Act earlier in May for alleged terror plots.
Court documents showed that Rahman decided to form the Islamic State in Bangladesh after failing to join ISIS on three occasions because he could not get a visa to Turkey or Algeria.
He had told the group that money was needed for their campaign for the purchase of items like food and weapons. At the end of March, the group decided to form the Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB), with the intention of overthrowing the Bangladeshi government and establish an Islamic Caliphate.
In the final meeting before his arrest, Rahman had distributed the ISB’s organisation chart, detailing each member’s roles and responsibilities. He had also discussed the use of false names to hide the group members from the authorities and shared a five-page document on counter-surveillance techniques.
Discussing the group’s timeline to overthrow the Bangladeshi government, they agreed that they would start in the Panchagarh district because of its large Muslim population, and that “violent action” would be taken against those who did not agree with the ISB’s beliefs. They also planned to eventually join up with ISIS, court documents said.
The six Bangladeshis charged were (top row from left to right) Mamun Leakot Ali, 29; Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul Islam Sowdagar, 30; Miah Rubel, 26; (bottom row from left to right) Rahman Mizanur, 31; Sohel Hawlader, 29; Zzaman Daulat, 34.
Escorted into the courtroom by members of the Ghurka contingent, Rahman, Jabath, Sohel and Miah pleaded guilty through the court interpreter to charges including contributing, collecting or possessing funds to help finance terror attacks.
Zzaman admitted to contributing money to the group, but claimed he did not know how the money would be spent. His case, along with that of Mamun’s, will be heard at a later date.
The other four will be back in court for sentencing on 21 June. The prosecution has said it would be seeking a deterrent sentence.
For financing terrorism, the men each faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to $500,000 per charge, or both.
They are the second group of Bangladeshi nationals to face terrorism-related charges in Singapore. In 2015, Singapore deported 27 Bangladeshi nationals detained under the Internal Security Act over alleged plots in their homeland.
