Just last week, news broke of Singapore's first radicalised female arrested under the Internal Security Act — a young mother who wanted to travel to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter.

And on Tuesday afternoon, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that last month, it took action under the ISA against two young auxiliary police officers, also for Islamic radicalisation.

One has been detained, and regarded as a security threat, while the other has been placed under a restriction order — he has not been detained, but has several conditions and restrictions to abide by. Both were arrested in May.

Muhammad Khairul bin Mohamed, 24

According to a statement issued by the ministry, 24-year-old Muhammad Khairul bin Mohamed was working with AETOS as an outrider — one of the auxiliary police officers you see riding on motorbikes in front or beside a vehicle as an escort or guard. He was deployed to the AETOS traffic enforcement division at the Woodlands Checkpoint, and was not required to be armed.

The MHA says Khairul went online to learn more about the Syrian conflict after first learning about it in mainstream media reports in 2012. It said Khairul, as a Sunni Muslim, perceived that the conflict was between Sunni and Shia Islam, and decided he should join to Free Syrian Army (FSA) — a group of defected Syrian Armed Forces soldiers aiming to overthrow the government led by Bashar Al-Assad — to fight the Shi'ites in Syria.

According to the ministry, Khairul also reached out to a foreign militant on Facebook in 2014, and tried to speak to some supporters of the FSA to find out how to travel to Syria. Even at the point of his arrest, the MHA said Khairul was still keen to join either the FSA or any militant group in Syria and engage in armed violence there, hence deeming him to be a security threat to Singapore.

Mohamad Rizal bin Wahid, 36

Rizal was an armed officer stationed at the Woodlands Checkpoint, also with AETOS as an auxiliary policeman.

The MHA said he knew about Khairul's intentions to travel to Syria since 2015, when the latter started confiding in him, but instead of reporting him to management or the authorities, he suggested various ways to travel to Syria and become a martyr.

In what the MHA described as a "serious lapse of judgement" in not reporting his friend and colleague, Rizal nonetheless did not himself harbour plans or any desire to participate in armed violence. Thus, a restriction order was placed on him instead of one of detention.

MUIS "disturbed" by nature of most recent cases

In a statement released at the same time as the announcement from the Ministry, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore said it was disturbed by the fact that for both Khairul and Izzah, they were radicalised through social media, and their families and friends found out about their views and intentions but did not report them to the authorities.

"We would like to emphasise that social media is not the appropriate platform to receive religious guidance and instruction, not least in understanding complex political and armed conflicts in the Muslim world. Exposure to the propaganda of extremist and radical groups online who exploit these conflicts to radicalise Muslims will misguide them to believe that participation in such conflicts is a religious duty."

If you or your relatives happen to know of any person who might be voicing radicalised opinions, ideas or values, please refer them to the MUIS Religious Rehabilitation Group at the hotline: 1800-7747747, or via the RRG Mobile App.

You can also approach MUIS by calling +65 6359 1199.

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The top photo is not of either of the named officers, and taken from the AETOS Facebook page

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