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Indonesia joins search for escaped Singapore suspect

Security forces in Singapore and Indonesia hunted for a top Muslim terrorist suspect who staged a stunning escape from a high-security jail.

The search for Mas Selamat Kastari stepped into high gear as Interpol said authorities lost his trail since he slipped out of a Singapore jail on Wednesday. Interpol's chief police services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, said authorities have "no trail for the moment."

The international police organization issued a high alert on Friday to its 186 member states for Mas Selamat, a suspected commander of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah's Singapore arm.

The Singaporean government said yesterday they believe he is still in the country.

"Our security agencies assess that Mas Selamat is still in Singapore. [There is] no evidence to suggest he has fled the country," Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng (黃根成) said.

Mas Selamat, who is known to walk with a limp, is accused of plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport. He was being held under the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial.

Mas Selamat is "someone who presents a potential physical danger to others, but also a potential danger by organizing future bombings," Louboutin said.

On Saturday, special operations officers, elite Gurkha guards and soldiers trudged into central Singapore's forested areas enclosed by a police blockade, while security was tightened at land, air and sea checkpoints.

Dozens of community leaders, including members of parliament, distributed posters of the fugitive. Wanted notices were displayed at public bus interchanges, train stations and shopping malls.

Security breaches are virtually unheard of in the tightly policed country of Singapore, an island nation of 4 million people that is a 45-minute boat ride from Indonesia where Mas Selamat is alleged to have links with militant groups.

Some 500 policemen were deployed at entry points to Batam, the closest Indonesian island to Singapore, while wanted notices were displayed at seaports, the airport and on every immigration officer's desk, Batam police chief Colonel Slamet Riyanto said.

Security personnel were deployed on jet skis with information on Mas Selamat for residents of the small islands surrounding Batam, said Riau Islands police chief Brigadier General Sutarman, adding that the suspect knows the islands well and can speak the dialect.

The Singapore government said Mas Selamat escaped because of a "security lapse" at the high security detention center.

He had been taken from his cell to a room where he was waiting for his family to make a scheduled visit. He escaped after being granted permission to visit the washroom, authorities said.
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