SINGAPORE, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Singapore has detained a female Singaporean suspect, the first in the city state, for radicalism, the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Monday.
According to a statement released by the ministry, Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari (Izzah), a 22-year-old contract infant care assistant with a preschool, began to be radicalised in 2013 by online propaganda related to Islamic State (IS).
Izzah intended to join IS and was actively planning to make her way to Syria with her young child. She was looking for "a Salafi or an IS supporter" to marry and settle down with him and her child in Syria, and was prepared to undergo military training and engage in armed combat if called upon by IS, said the statement.
The ministry said Izzah's parents and sister knew her radical postings in 2015 but did not alert the authorities. They tried on their own to dissuade her but failed.
The ministry again asked people in Singapore who know or suspect that a person is radicalized to promptly call the hotline of the Counter-Terrorism Centre.
