3 self-radicalised teens detained by ISD; 2 planned attacks on schools in Singapore

“While the youth claimed not to have shared his attack aspirations with anyone, his family and friends appeared to have been aware of his extremist views, but none reported him to the authorities.”

MILITARY, LGBTQ COMMUNITY TARGETED

The oldest of the detained trio was 19-year-old Tan Jun Jie, a Muslim convert who began practising Islam in 2022 after being introduced to the religion through social media content.

In late 2022, he was exposed to the online extremist teachings of foreign preachers and subsequently to rigid and fundamentalist religious beliefs, which primed him to be susceptible to radical content that he later came across from January last year.

By late 2025, he believed that armed violence was permissible against non-Muslims, Shi’ite Muslims and other Muslims whose understanding of Islam deviated from his, as well as individuals who served secular governments.

He took the pledge of allegiance to ISIS in January this year, and was willing to further the group’s cause if called to do so, including carrying out attacks in Singapore.

Tan wanted to travel overseas to undertake armed jihad and explored the possibility of travelling to Gaza to join Hamas under the guise of humanitarian work. He eventually abandoned this idea after deeming it not feasible.

Next, he aimed to join ISIS in Somalia, and searched for flights from Singapore to the country, while conducting research on bomb-making techniques to prepare for armed conflict abroad.

While he did not have any specific timeline in mind, Tan was prepared to carry out attacks locally if he was unable to travel to join ISIS in Somalia, said ISD.

Tan formulated attack plans against two groups of targets in Singapore in end-2025, and was prepared to be killed in the process of carrying out his attacks.

“The first plot involved targeting SAF personnel stationed at the entrance of Sembawang Air Base as he deemed them enemy combatants serving the ‘kuffar government’ of Singapore. The second plot was to target LGBTQ students at his school as he perceived their behaviour to be unIslamic,” said the ISD.

“He prioritised the targeting of SAF personnel as he believed that he could attain greater divine rewards and increase his likelihood of dying as a martyr.”

Early this year, Tan harboured violent ideations about killing his Muslim acquaintances who disagreed with his religious ideologies.

“He had imagined, while preparing food at home, that his kitchen cleaver was a knife to slit his acquaintances’ throats, mimicking executions in ISIS’s propaganda videos,” said the ISD.

“Fortunately, Tan’s acquaintances reported him to the authorities due to his extremist views and intention to enact violence locally and overseas.”

Tan also carried out cyberattacks in mid-2025 against the websites of several local and foreign Muslim organisations, using malware he had downloaded online to execute Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.

He had also recorded an oral declaration justifying his actions. However, as the websites remained accessible after his DDoS attempts, he decided against disseminating the recording as he was uncertain whether his attacks succeeded.

The Singapore Police Force is separately investigating Tan for potential offences under the Computer Misuse Act.