SINGAPORE — Five Bangladeshi workers who were deported from Singapore as part of investigations into the clandestine Islamic State of Bangladesh (ISB) group were arrested on Tuesday (May 3) in Dhaka, Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star reported.

The five, who were found to possess jihadi materials and supported armed violence for their religious cause, were deported to Bangladesh on April 29. They were kept under surveillance before being formally arrested around 11.30am in the Banasree area of Dhaka, the report added.

Eight other Bangladeshis have been detained under the Internal Security Act for forming the ISB terror cell, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) disclosed on Tuesday. The eight, who worked in the local construction and marine industries, were found to have been planning to return to Bangladesh to carry out terror attacks and establish an Islamic state, the ministry said in a statement.

MHA said the five who were deported from Singapore were not involved with the ISB.

The Daily Star identified the deported workers as: Mizanur Rahman alias Ghalib Hasan, 38, Md Rana Mia Pilot, 29, Md Alamgir Hossain, 31, Md Tanjimul Islam, 24, and Masud Rana alias Sontu Khan. They had arrived in Singapore between 2007 and 2011 as skilled and unskilled workers.

Following their arrest on Tuesday, some of them were found to have books by Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani, who is the detained spiritual leader of banned local militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, according to the newspaper.

The Daily Star quoted Additional Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Monirul Islam as saying that the five were radicalised in Singapore and they did not have any militant connections before leaving Bangladesh.

Commissioner Monirul, who is the chief of Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of the DMP, said the police were verifying allegations made by the Singapore authorities. He noted the laws of the two countries were different, adding: “If what is considered radicalism in Singapore is to be considered the same in Bangladesh, half the population would have to be in jail.”

Commenting separately on the eight Bangladeshis detained under ISA in Singapore, the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Singapore Mahbub Uz Zaman told The Daily Star: “We are closely working with the Singaporean authorities as our government has taken the security issue seriously.”