Singapore authorities have detained three teenagers in separate cases involving alleged extremist attack plans, including a 19-year-old accused of preparing knife attacks against LGBTQ+ students and military personnel.
The three Singaporean youths, aged 14, 15 and 19, were issued detention orders under the country’s Internal Security Act in April, May and June respectively.
Singapore’s Internal Security Department said the unrelated cases involved young people who had become radicalised through violent material, extremist propaganda, social media and online gaming communities.
All three allegedly supported ISIS and had taken steps towards carrying out attacks in Singapore, although their targets, motivations and stages of preparation differed.
Teen Allegedly Planned Attacks on LGBTQ+ Students
The only suspect publicly identified is 19-year-old tertiary student Tan Jun Jie.
According to the Internal Security Department, Tan began practising Islam in 2022 after encountering religious material online. Authorities allege he was later exposed to extremist foreign preachers and began consuming pro-ISIS content in 2025.
By early 2026, Tan allegedly considered himself an ISIS member and believed violence could be used against people he regarded as “disbelievers”. His definition reportedly included non-Muslims, Shi’ite Muslims, Muslims who disagreed with his interpretation of the religion and people working for secular governments.
The allegations relate to Tan’s adoption of ISIS ideology and do not represent the beliefs of Muslims generally.
Authorities say Tan considered travelling abroad to join militant groups, initially exploring the possibility of reaching Gaza before researching travel to Somalia.
He allegedly developed two alternative plans for attacks within Singapore if he could not leave the country.
One involved attacking Singapore Armed Forces personnel stationed at the entrance to Sembawang Air Base. The other involved targeting LGBTQ+ students at his tertiary institution because he considered their identities or behaviour contrary to his extremist beliefs.
The Internal Security Department alleges Tan researched knife techniques and identified a knife with a 10-centimetre blade that he intended to purchase from a hardware shop.
He had not established a date for either attack, but reportedly viewed the local plots as alternatives if he was unable to travel to Somalia.
Tan was detained after acquaintances became concerned about his extremist views and violent statements and alerted authorities.
He is also being investigated under Singapore’s Computer Misuse Act over alleged attempts to overwhelm the websites of Muslim organisations he considered religiously “deviant”. The department said the attempted cyberattacks did not appear to have succeeded.
Fourteen-Year-Old Idolised Pulse Nightclub Shooter
A separate case involves a 14-year-old secondary school student who authorities say was influenced by a combination of ISIS propaganda, far-right ideology, neo-Nazism and fascination with mass shootings.
The teenager reportedly began consuming violent material at the age of 12 after playing online games recreating real-life school attacks.
He allegedly identified with mass shooters who claimed to have been bullied because he said he had experienced similar treatment. Social media recommendations then exposed him to further footage involving violence, gore and mass killings.
In 2024, the boy encountered material about Omar Mateen, the ISIS supporter who murdered 49 people at Orlando’s Pulse LGBTQ+ nightclub in June 2016.
Singapore authorities say the teenager idolised Mateen, related to accounts of him being bullied and came to believe that killing gay people could be justified.
At the same time, he consumed far-right and neo-Nazi material, expressed antisemitic beliefs and embraced elements of white-supremacist ideology because he considered himself lighter-skinned than some of his peers.
The Internal Security Department describes this mixture of contradictory beliefs as Composite Violent Extremism, in which a person creates a personalised ideology from several unrelated or opposing extremist movements.
School Attack Allegedly Planned for June
By late 2025, the 14-year-old had allegedly begun planning an attack against non-Muslim teachers and students at his school.
Unlike Tan’s alleged plan, authorities did not identify LGBTQ+ students as the specific targets of this proposed attack.
The boy reportedly chose the June 2026 school holidays because he believed fewer teachers would be present to intervene. He had identified days when both he and his intended targets would be attending extracurricular activities.
After considering firearms and explosives, he allegedly settled on using a kitchen knife and penknife available at home.
Authorities say he intended to livestream the attack, pledge allegiance to ISIS while carrying it out and then take his own life.
In January, the teenager allegedly produced a 21-page manifesto setting out his intended targets, weapons and attack plan. It included far-right and neo-Nazi symbols and glorified several mass killers.
The plot was disrupted after somebody at his school noticed signs of radicalisation and contacted authorities. He was arrested in May, one month before the planned attack, and is the youngest person detained under Singapore’s Internal Security Act.
Third Teen Researched Bomb Attack
The third case involves a 15-year-old student who allegedly planned an attack inspired by information about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Authorities say the teenager became radicalised after consuming online material about the Israel–Palestine conflict and later joined groups where he encountered ISIS propaganda.
He allegedly expressed support for militant organisations fighting Israel, created online chat groups to spread extremist material and publicly pledged allegiance to ISIS.
The teenager also reportedly considered travelling to Gaza, Syria or Iraq before exploring the possibility of carrying out an attack in Singapore.
He researched pressure-cooker bombs and imagined targeting a crowded urban location, although authorities said he had not selected a specific site or date by the time he was detained.
Unlike the other two cases, no friend or relative reported him despite several people apparently knowing about his extremist views.
Warning Over Online Radicalisation
Singapore’s Internal Security Department said the cases demonstrated how violent games, extremist videos, social media algorithms and online communities could reinforce personal grievances and normalise violence.
The 14-year-old’s case was described as particularly concerning because he combined several incompatible ideologies without subscribing to one coherent political or religious worldview.
Authorities also noted that Tan and the 14-year-old had allegedly viewed online material teaching lethal knife tactics, while all three had searched for information about explosives.
“These three cases drive home the severity of the youth radicalisation threat in Singapore,” the department said.
More than half of the 23 young people dealt with under the Internal Security Act during the past decade allegedly intended to carry out attacks within Singapore.
Officials credited Tan’s acquaintances and a member of the 14-year-old’s school community with helping prevent the alleged plots.
The department urged families, friends and educators to report warning signs including fascination with extreme violence, praise for terrorist groups, expressions of hatred towards particular communities and stated intentions to commit violence.
All three teenagers are expected to undergo programmes addressing their ideological beliefs and psychological and social vulnerabilities. Authorities said they would work with their families and schools to allow their education to continue while they are detained.
