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Singapore
terror suspect still on run, one month on
Macau Daily Times
27 Mar
08
http://www.macaudailytimesnews.com/index.php?option...
Singapore's
most wanted man, terror suspect Mas Selamat bin Kastari, remains
at large a month after his escape from detention, but police
vowed yesterday to eventually catch him.
Deputy Prime
Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said Kastari is
still believed to be in the city state - an urban jungle of
skyscrapers and high-rises, but which also has an extensive area
of nature reserves.
"The best available information
from our own sources and from our foreign security and
intelligence partners suggest that Mas Selamat is still in hiding
in Singapore," Wong said in a statement.
Security
forces will continue the hunt "for as long as it takes until
he is apprehended," he added.
Kastari, 47, the
alleged Singapore leader of the Southeast Asia-based Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) terror network, escaped from a tightly-guarded
facility here on February 27.
Some analysts said the
apparent ease with which he escaped - sparking the biggest
manhunt in the country's history - tarnished Singapore's
reputation for tough security.
The fugitive's photos have
been plastered across the island and millions of mobile phone
subscribers have received pictures of him via a multi-messaging
system for free.
Interpol has also issued an international
red alert for Kastari, who slipped away after being allowed to
use the toilet during a visit from relatives.
Kastari was
accused of plotting to hijack a plane in order to crash it into
Singapore's Changi Airport in 2001 but was never charged. He was
being held under a law that allows the government to detain
suspects without trial.
Wong said yesterday that security
forces would in a week scale down the large-scale deployment of
ground troops scouring forested areas for the fugitive and focus
on more targeted searches based on specific intelligence.
The
JI is blamed for a string of attacks in Southeast Asia, including
bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali in 2002 which killed
202 people, most of them tourists.
Terrorism analyst Rohan
Gunaratna said: "If he is still in Singapore, it is likely
that someone is hiding him. Otherwise, he could be in Indonesia
or Malaysia."
Kastari remains an important member of the
JI network and still poses a danger to Singapore, Gunaratna
noted.
"The very fact that he escaped demonstrates
that he is committed to extremism and terrorism," he
said.
Singapore's founding father and former prime
minister Lee Kuan Yew said earlier this month that the city state
should brace for an attack if Kastari flees and rejoins his JI
comrades in Indonesia.
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