Comments From ISD on Incident at Buangkok Crescent

1.   On 14 Mar 2022 at about 1.56pm, the Police responded to multiple calls of a man swinging a sword in the middle of Buangkok Crescent and stopping oncoming traffic.   The man had allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the incident.  The man, identified as Singaporean Fadhil bin Yusop (Fadhil), 37, has since been arrested by the Police and will be charged in court on 16 March 2022 for an alleged offence of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means.  The Internal Security Department (ISD) is working with the Police to investigate this incident.  Fadhil is believed to have acted alone, and preliminary investigations thus far do not suggest that the incident is an act of terror.  He had allegedly consumed some unknown pills prior to leaving his home with the sword.

2.   Fadhil was previously investigated by the ISD in 2016 for sharing images of militant groups such as HAMAS’s Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades online.  However, there was no indication that he was radicalised or intended to engage in armed violence.  Fadhil was administered with a written warning for his social media posts.

3.   In January 2020, Fadhil was arrested by the Police after approaching the Imam at Masjid Al-Mawaddah with a knife.  ISD’s joint investigations with Police at the time, did not suggest that Fadhil’s attack was terrorism-related.  Fadhil was found to have consumed a large number of pills containing dextromethorphan, which contributed to his behaviour.  He was sentenced to nine months and two weeks’ imprisonment and was subsequently released in July 2020 (after his sentence was backdated). Although Fadhil was assessed not to be radicalised, he was referred for religious counselling after this second incident as a matter of precaution.

4.   ISD will continue to work with the Police to investigate Fadhil’s latest attack and will provide an update in due course.

Internal Security Department
15 March 2022