Hey, how he escape man???? so good in escaping?
By GILLIAN WONG,Associated Press Writer AP - Thursday, February 28
SINGAPORE - The suspected local leader of a Southeast Asian terrorist network who allegedly plotted to crash a plane into Singapore's airport has escaped from a detention center in the city-state, authorities said.
Mas Selamat Kastari, said to be commander of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group's Singapore arm, slipped away from the detention center on Wednesday, the Home Affairs Ministry said.
It did not say how he escaped.
"Mas Selamat was the leader of the Singapore (Jemaah Islamiyah) network. He walks with a limp and is presently at large," the ministry said in a statement. "Extensive police resources have been deployed to track him down."
Several riot police trucks were parked along main roads near the Whitley Road Detention Center, from which Mas Selamat escaped. Dozens of police officers checked passing cars.
The ministry said the suspect was not known to be armed.
Mas Selamat was allegedly involved in plans about seven years ago to attack Singapore targets including the U.S. Embassy, the American Club and government buildings.
Singapore, a close ally of the United States, was named an al-Qaida target in a transcript from alleged al-Qaida operative Khalid Sheikh Mohamed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, held last year at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The ministry said Mas Selamat also plotted to hijack an airplane and crash it into Singapore's main airport, Changi, in retaliation for the country's arrest and detention of some of his fellow Jemaah Islamiyah members in a crackdown on the militant group's operatives here.
The alleged schemes were never carried out.
Mas Selamat left Singapore in December 2001 following the arrests of nearly 40 other suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members.
The ministry's Web site said Indonesian authorities detained him in February 2003 on charges related to possession of falsified identification documents. They deported him to Singapore in February 2006, the ministry said.
Mas Selamat has since been held in custody under Singapore's Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial.
Since 2002, Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a series of terror attacks that killed more than 250 people, most of them in Indonesia. Scores of its suspected operatives have been arrested across Southeast Asia since 2000.
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SINGAPORE, Feb 28 - A "security lapse" led to the escape of the leader of the city-state's wing of the Islamic militant network, Jemaah Islamiah , Singapore said on Thursday.
Wong Kan Seng, Singapore's minister for home affairs, told members of parliament that Mas Selamat bin Kastari escaped from the toilet of a police detention facility, in the middle of a posh residential area, on Wednesday afternoon.
Acknowledging that the security lapse "should have never happened", Wong said everything was being done to arrest Kastari.
Singapore security systems are generally tight and sophisticated on the island to police its borders.
Local newspapers reported that thousands of policemen were deployed late on Wednesday in a massive hunt for Kastari, who was thought to have escaped unarmed and walks with a limp.
The JI has been blamed for several deadly bombing attacks in Southeast Asia, including the 2002 bombings that killed more than 200 people on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.
Singapore, a strong U.S. ally and a major base for Western businesses, sees itself as a prime terrorist target in the region after it foiled JI plots in 2001 to attack its airport and other targets, including the U.S. embassy, the Americna Club and the Singapore American School.
Kastari left Singapore after the plots seven years ago after nearly 40 other suspected members of JI were rounded up. He was arrested by the Indonesian police on the Indonesian island of Bintan in January 2006 and sent back to Singapore.
He had since been held under Singapore's Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial.
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