Triggered by Gaza: Three men, including company director, arrested in Singapore for radicalisation linked to Israel-Hamas conflict
Each of the men had taken steps to become familiar with weapons, including one who visited a shooting range in Bangkok.Since the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October 2023, the ISD has intervened with at least five Singaporeans under the Internal Security Act whose radicalisation was either triggered or accelerated by the conflict.
In preparation, he researched travel routes to Gaza and identified an online contact in the Palestinian territories who could assist him. He also took steps to become “combat-ready”.that the man has a background in martial arts, and woulda enhanced his unarmed combat skills through at-home pad work exercises. He also practised reloading and trigger pulls daily with toy guns to improve muscle memory for weapons handling.
Over the years, he became convinced that these events would unfold during his lifetime and believed it was his religious duty to fight alongside the mujahideen against the “enemies of Islam”. The ISD said that while he had no specific plans to attack Singapore, Latiff admitted he would follow orders from Khamenei, including carrying out attacks in Singapore.
After the Hamas attacks, he consumed online extremist content related to the conflict and became convinced that it was his religious duty to travel to Gaza and join Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades .