Daily US Times: Singaporean authorities have detained a 16-year-old boy for allegedly plotting to kill Muslims in two mosques on the Christchurch attacks anniversary. The mosque attack plot is revealed by the police.
Influenced by Christchurch killer Brenton Tarrant, the teenager had allegedly planned to knife his victims and livestream the attack.
He is the youngest to be detained under the Internal Security Act in the country, which allows for detention without trial.
The Christchurch attack was the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s history.
Some 51 people died when they were gunned down by Brenton Tarrant at two mosques on 15 March 2019. Mr Tarrant has now been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
The Singaporean, who has not been identified but has been described as a Protestant Christian of Indian ethnicity, is said to have been “motivated by a strong antipathy towards Islam and a fascination with violence,” said the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that it was clear he had by “influenced by Tarrant’s actions and manifesto”, pointing out the fact that he planned to carry out his attacks on 15 March this year, to mark the two-year anniversary of the Christchurch mosque attacks.
The boy had allegedly originally planned to use a rifle like the Christchurch attacker, but decided to use a machete instead after he faced difficulties in purchasing a firearm in Singapore, which has strict gun-control laws.
The ministry said the 16-year-old boy admitted that he could only “foresee two outcomes – that he is arrested before he is able to carry out the attacks, or he executes the plan and is thereafter killed by the police”.
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