Four Bangladeshis plead guilty to financing terror

SINGAPORE — Four Bangladeshi men who were part of a clandestine terror cell formed here to bring their home country under the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate pleaded guilty to terrorism financing on Tuesday (May 31).

Ringleader Rahman Mizanur, 31, admitted to two counts of the charge, including one for actively inviting members of the Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB) — the terror cell which he started — from Feb 28 to March 27 to give money to be used for carrying out a terrorist act in Bangladesh. The amount he collected from March 20 to 25 came up to S$1,000, according to court documents. Two similar charges will be taken into consideration in sentencing him.

Miah Rubel, 26; Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul Islam Sowdager, 30; and Sohel Hawlader Ismail Hawlader, 29, each pleaded guilty to one count of terrorism financing.

The four men, who will be sentenced on June 21, could be jailed a maximum of 10 years, fined up to S$500,000, or both, for each charge.

Zzaman Daulat, 34, who had earlier indicated that he would plead guilty, told the court he would not do so this morning as he did not know the money he contributed would be used to fund terrorism activities.

A pre-trial conference has been scheduled on June 9 for Zzaman and the ISB's deputy leader Mamun Leakot Ali, 29, who said last week that he will contest the charges.

The court heard that Rahman founded the ISB after failed attempts to obtain visas to Turkey and Algeria, through which he had hoped to travel to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

He had convinced his co-accused to form the ISB to overthrow the Bangladeshi government in an armed struggle, and wage jihad against those who did not agree with ISB's beliefs, with the hope of eventually joining the ISIS, the court was told. Each member had sworn an oath to follow ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi till their death, the court heard.

Rahman then made repeated calls for funds for purchasing arms and weapons for fighting. Everyone agreed that they would contribute part of their salaries to the cause, the court heard. Charges against the men stated amounts ranging from S$60 to S$1,360.

The court heard that each member of the ISB had specific roles and responsibilities, and meetings were held in various parks in Boon Lay and Sembawang, among others.

Security was tight in the courtroom on Tuesday morning, with two accused persons brought into the dock at each time, guarded by five Gurkha officers.

The ISB was the first all-foreigner terror cell detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) here and the second reported case this year of radicalised individuals involving the Bangladeshi community in Singapore. The remaining two ISB members detained under the ISA — Sohag Ibrahim and Islam Shariful, both 27 — were not implicated in these terrorism financing criminal proceedings.

In January, the Ministry of Home Affairs revealed that 27 Bangladeshi construction workers here were arrested after they were found to be contemplating waging armed jihad overseas. All of them have been deported.