SINGAPORE - Two more radicalised foreign domestic workers were sent home between Dec 18 and Jan 9.

In all, seven foreign maids have been radicalised and repatriated in the past two years, said Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam in a written reply to a parliamentary question on Monday (Jan 9).

He was responding to a question from Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade GRC), who asked for an update on the issue, after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) reported on Dec 18 that five maids had been sent back under such circumstances in the last two years.

All seven maids were radicalised through the Internet, said Mr Shanmugam. "They did not have plans to carry out acts of violence in Singapore at the time they were investigated," he said. "However, their interactions with others showed that they had bought into radical ideologies and were on a dangerous path."

He added that their presence here "posed a security concern" and they were repatriated to their home countries. No further information on the cases was given.

"Our security agencies will continue to monitor the situation closely and will investigate individuals in Singapore who are suspected of being radicalised, both foreign and local," said Mr Shanmugam.

On Dec 18, the MHA revealed that it had investigated 70 foreign workers who were radicalised while working here in the past two years. Five of them were maids.

This came after Indonesia's anti-terror police rounded up four women on suspicion of terrorism, one of them Dian Yulia Novi, 27, who had worked in Singapore between 2008 and 2009 as a domestic worker.