Singapore, which prides itself on rigorous anti-terrorist measures, yesterday blamed a security lapse for the escape of an alleged leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant network.
Authorities mounted a massive manhunt as analysts said Mas Selamat bin Kastari, accused of planning to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport, would try to flee to Indonesia.
"This should never have happened. I'm sorry that it has," Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng (
PHOTO: EPA
Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, said Kastari had escaped once when he was in Indonesia, but his flight from the Singapore facility was unexpected.
"I think that it has surprised the Singapore authorities and everyone because Singapore's security systems are world-class," he said.
The ministry said Kastari walks with a limp and was not known to be armed.
It said he escaped on Wednesday afternoon from the Whitley Road Detention Center, which holds prisoners detained by the Internal Security Department.
Wong said Kastari had been taken from his cell to the family visit room to await his family.
"He asked to go to the toilet, where he escaped," Wong said.
The minister was responding to a member of parliament who said the escape "raised concerns about our police force vigilance and security operating procedures."
Wong said security had been tightened at all air, sea and land checkpoints and no effort would be spared to locate Kastari, who analysts say received military training in Afghanistan.
Soldiers, Special Operations police and paramilitary Nepalese Gurkhas had joined the manhunt.
Clive Williams, a professor with the Australian Defence Force Academy, predicted Kastari would try to reach Indonesia, "because if he stays in Singapore he's going to be arrested fairly quickly I would think."
Kastari, born in 1961, was arrested on the Indonesian island of Bintan near Singapore in 2003 and sentenced by a court there to 18 months in jail.
He was later released but arrested again by Indonesian authorities in January 2006 before being handed over to Singapore.
Kastari had fled Singapore in December 2001 following an Internal Security Department operation against JI, the Home Affairs ministry said previously.
"He was among those who had planned retaliation against Singapore for arresting and detaining his fellow JI members. He had planned to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport," the ministry said.
Singapore authorities arrested 15 people in December 2001 -- 13 of whom were suspected JI members -- who allegedly planned to attack a bus carrying Americans to a subway station.
Businesses, offices and schools operated normally despite the massive security presence.
Wong said security agencies had concluded there was "no imminent danger" to the public after Kastari's escape.
He said an independent investigation was being conducted into the incident.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS