SINGAPORE: A 15-year-old student who aspired to marry a Daesh fighter and was willing to fight for the group in Syria has become the first female youth to be dealt with under Singapore's Internal Security Act (ISA), according to the Internal Security Department (ISD) on Wednesday.
She, along with a 17-year-old male, became the latest self-radicalised Singaporean youths issued with the ISA's Restriction Order (RO) and Order of Detention (OD) in February and March, respectively.
ISD said that the female youth's path to radicalisation began in June 2023, after she encountered Daesh propaganda online and took a virtual bai’ah (pledge) to a Daesh chatbot in July 2023.
She was in at least eight short-term romantic online relationships with overseas-based Daesh supporters, including an alleged Daesh fighter based in Syria, between July 2023 and December 2024.
Meanwhile, the male youth was an online contact of 18-year-old Singaporean Nick Lee Xing Qiu, who was detained under the ISA in December 2024.
They were self-radicalised separately, had not met in person, and were unaware of each other's plans to conduct attacks in Singapore.
ISD stated that the 17-year-old had been radicalised by violent far-right extremist and racist ideologies and had taken steps to prepare for attacks against Muslims at mosques in Singapore.
He had in June 2024, shortlisted five mosques – Masjid Maarof, Masjid Jamek Queenstown, Masjid Darussalam, Masjid An-Nur, and Masjid Hajjah Fatimah – as potential targets for his attack, aiming to kill at least 100 Muslims.
The youth planned to use firearms for his attacks and had made multiple unsuccessful attempts to procure a gun.
"At the time of his arrest, the youth admitted that he had yet to execute his attacks only because he was unable to procure a gun," ISD said.
Since 2015, ISD has dealt with 17 youths aged 20 and below under the ISA. All were self-radicalised online, with nine aspiring to carry out attacks in Singapore.
The youngest person dealt with under the ISA is a 14-year-old who was issued an RO in June 2024.
