Bangladeshi preacher on watchlist used different name to enter S'pore

Shanmugam: His biometric data was not on ICA database as it was his first visit here

- Mike Yeo

The Internal Security Department (ISD) had placed on its watchlist the Bangladeshi preacher who made an inflammatory speech to workers at a Tuas dormitory on National Day.

But Amir Hamza still managed to enter Singapore on a passport and visa bearing a different name, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam told Parliament on Sept 9.

And because it was his first visit to Singapore, his biometric data was not on the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's (ICA) Authority's (ICA) multi-modal biometric database.

That would have flagged him for more stringent immigration and security checks due to him being on the watchlist, the minister added.

Mr Shanmugam was responding to questions by six MPs in Parliament on Sept 9, regarding Amir Hamza's visit here on Aug 9.

The sermon Amir Hamza gave took place at the Lantana Lodge dormitory in Tech Park Crescent in Tuas. He suggested non-Muslims were kafirs (infidels), and held up extremists as exemplars of religious piety.

Mr Shanmugam said that as a Bangladeshi national, Amir Hamza needed to apply for a visa that would have had his photograph along with that on his passport. These would be checked against any photo on the ISD's watchlist by ICA.