According to Singapore's Home Ministry, one of the men "had been part of a team that had planned to hijack an airplane in order to crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport."
"Singapore detains five Islamic militants-ministry," from Reuters:
SINGAPORE, June 8 (Reuters) - Singapore has arrested five Islamic militants since late in 2006, including four members of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a Southeast Asian militant group linked to al Qaeda, the Home Ministry said on Friday.
The ministry said in a statement that in February the Internal Security Department (ISD) had arrested and subsequently detained Singaporean national Abdul Basheer, 28, who it said had made specific plans to pursue "militant jihad" in Afghanistan.
It described him as "self-radicalised, independent of direct recruitment by established terrorist groups".
"His views were shaped by the radical discourse that he avidly looked up on the Internet," the ministry said in a statement on its Web site.
It has become commonplace to see the internet identified as the catalyst for what is termed the "self-radicalization" of Muslims. But to examine the link between Islamic texts and teachings and "radical" sites' ability to convince readers like Basheer to wage jihad, well, that would just be "Islamophobic."
The ministry also said that between November 2006 and April 2007, four Singaporean JI members had been detained.
It said one of them -- Ishak Mohamed Noohu -- was a senior member of the Singapore JI network and had been part of a team that had planned to hijack an airplane in order to crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport.
The ministry said Ishak and the three other JI members had left Singapore just before or after a December 2001 security operation against the JI network, while Abdul Basheer had left Singapore in October 2006.
It did not say whether the five men were arrested in Singapore or abroad.
The ministry also said five other JI detainees were released on June 1. Four of those men had been detained since September 2002. One had been detained since February 2007.
"They had cooperated with ISD on investigations into the JI, and had responded positively to rehabilitation. They are assessed to no longer pose a security threat to Singapore that warrants preventive detention," the ministry said.
Hope they're right about that.
Hmm, I was previously unaware of Singapore's long history of imperialistic aggression against Muslims, support of the Zionist entity, and its part in the invasion of Iraq.
"self-radicalised, independent of direct recruitment by established terrorist groups".
this describes when a muslim become pious by learning more about the war manual "koran".
'JI' of course which is headquartered and completely legal in Malaysia just a short causeway drive from Singapore. The same JI which was responsible for all the Bali bombings plus the Marriot Hotel and Australian Embassy bombings in Jakarta and who are arming, training and giving safe haven to the Muslim separatists who regularly cross the border in to Thailand to murder Policemen, Buddhist Priests,Teachers and Thai Children not forgetting arming and supporting the Abu Sayf in the Philippines. The Malaysian Madrassas are of course the staging post too for Jihadis on their way to Afghanistan and Iraq. Busy little 'self radicalised' boys aren't they? Their aim is for a Muslim Caliphate stretching from Myanmar(Burma) to the Philippines including of course Malaysia,Indonesia,Thailand,Brunei and Sarawak.
You can count on Singapore not being soft on the JI scum! Those JI scum are going to wish they were in Guantanamo or Abu Gharib! I hope these guys are caned and that the caning is televised.
Remember when Singapore caned that American teenager for grafitti. I can't wait to see what happens with the JI 5!!
Remember that an attack on various America-centric installations in Singapore was AQ/JI's Plan A:
"Highlights included an explanation of how a failed Al-Qaeda plot in Singapore gave way to a successful attack in Bali, the career trajectory of an Al-Qaeda operative whose training begins in adolescence, and a look at the very real threat of ninja attacks." —from the Amazon review of CNN Jakarta Bureau Chief Maria Ressa's 2003 book Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia.
More on Abdul's "sudden jihad syndrome":
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,132669,00.html