Singapore detains three teenagers over alleged school, air base and bomb attack plots

Singapore authorities said on Monday that three teenage boys had been detained over separate alleged plans to carry out stabbing and bomb attacks, warning of a growing threat from youth radicalisation.

The Internal Security Department said the three suspects, detained between April and June, had been radicalised online and adopted violent extremist beliefs.

They are being held under Singapore’s Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial.

One suspect, a 14-year-old student, allegedly planned to stab non-Muslim teachers and pupils at his school and livestream the attack, the department said.

Authorities said he had been influenced by the jihadist ideology of the Islamic State group.

The boy initially tried to obtain a firearm but abandoned the plan because of Singapore’s strict gun laws, according to the agency. He also considered making a bomb but lacked the money needed.

A 19-year-old student allegedly planned knife attacks against soldiers at an air base and LGBTQ students at his school.

The third suspect, a 15-year-old boy, was in the early stages of planning a bomb attack, authorities said.

“Though their cases are not related, all three were self-radicalised online by violent extremist ideologies, and had made preparations to conduct local attacks,” the department said.

The agency said the cases demonstrated the seriousness of the youth radicalisation threat in Singapore.

A government terrorism report published in 2024 said 13 of the 52 self-radicalisation cases identified at the time involved people aged 20 or younger.