Singapore detains boy, 17, allegedly planning to kill ‘at least 100’ Muslims

A Singaporean teenager allegedly planning to kill dozens of Muslims outside several mosques has been detained, the city state’s Internal Security Department said on Wednesday.

The 17-year-old boy was detained in March, the ISD said in a statement, adding that he had regarded white supremacist Brenton Tarrant – who in 2019 had killed worshippers at mosques in New Zealand – as a “hero”.

ISD also said he had “identified as an ‘East Asian Supremacist’”, and had decided on five mosques across Singapore for his post-Friday prayer attacks.

“This boy wanted to kill at least 100 Muslims, so that he can kill more Muslims than Tarrant had killed. He also wanted to live-stream his attacks,” Home Minister K Shanmugam told reporters.

“When he was arrested … he had already made a number of attempts to get a gun. He told ISD quite openly if he had gotten a gun, he would have carried out his attacks.”

The teen had been in online contact with 18-year-old Nick Lee, who was detained in December for having similar plans.