Singapore's authorities said they have placed under restrictions Wang Yuandongyia, a National Service reservist who wanted to travel to Syria to fight the Islamic State militants.
Mystery surrounds as to what motivated Wang, a non-Muslim who wanted to fight alongside the Kurdish militia who are resisting the onslaught of Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
Even after the detention, prolonged investigations and conational release of Wang, the authorities have no conclusively revealed what might have motivated the 23-year-old to travel overseas to join the bloody sectarian conflict in Syria.
Wang's early life is nondescript, similar to hundreds of ethnic Chinese children who come to the country with their parents, complete education and most probably join the National Service.
Wang attained his Singapore citizenship in 2014 after successfully completing his National Service.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said on Wednesday he was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in February and placed on a two-year Restriction Order (RO).
What prompted Wang to wage war for the Syrian Kurds?
The MHA said Wang was apprehended in a third country following intelligence inputs, after he had travelled there en-route to Turkey and Syria.
The ministry said Wang, a non-Muslim with no ethnic connections to Kurds, is not ideologically driven. He was not indoctrinated in any religious schools, unlike the other three men arrested last year for fighting the Houthis in Yemen.
"Even though his motivation to join the Kurdish militia group and fight against IS in Syria was not ideologically driven, the fact remains that he intended to engage in an armed conflict overseas," the MHA said in a statement.
Investigators believe Wang might have turned sympathetic towards the suffering of the Kurdish people at the hands of the Isis after reading media reports. Evidence shows that he came in touch with a Kurdish militia group online in December last year, who helped him plot his trip to the conflict zone.
It's clear that Wang intended to wage battle overseas as he carried his Singapore military uniform and boots when he left for Syria.
Various media reports cited investigators saying even personal problems might have motivated Wang to undertake the personal mission. They think Wang might have been trying to escape personal setbacks such as his debts from a failed business venture, The Straits Times reported.
"He does not fit the profile of a mercenary. This could be just a form of adventure," Jasminder Singh, senior analyst at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, said, according to the daily.
