SINGAPORE — Amid concerns over how friends of self-radicalised youth M Arifil Azim Putra Norja’i did not report him to the authorities despite knowing what he was up to, youth counsellors and experts yesterday stressed the need for the community to report such cases promptly to the authorities, given the potential dire consequences.

Ms Nur Irfani Saripi, a Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) counsellor, said that had someone not alerted the authorities, Arifil might have succeeded in pulling off his plans.

“It is not easy to report someone you care about, but it is necessary especially if that person has become influenced by deviant and violent ideologies, like those of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria),” she said.

But she noted that “when someone is detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), he or she is deemed a serious threat to national security”.