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Authorities in Singapore arrest suspected terrorist

Authorities in Singapore arrested a suspected Muslim terror group member who once trained with militants in Afghanistan, the government said.

Rijal Yadri Jumari, a 27-year-old Singaporean, was arrested last month for suspected involvement with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the Home Affairs Ministry said on Sunday in a statement posted on its Web site.

The group is a loose network of Muslim militants in Southeast Asia.

Rijal's arrest was announced amid a nationwide manhunt for a top Muslim terror suspect who escaped a high-security Singapore prison nearly a month ago.

In Pakistan, Rijal joined JI's Al-Ghuraba cell, the ministry said. It did not say when.

"He was one of several students talent-spotted by the JI to be groomed to become a future leader in the JI organization," the statement said.

It said Rijal was sent to Afghanistan for terrorist training at an al-Qaeda camp in Kandahar in 2000.

While there he was trained in weapons handling, explosives, surveillance and guerrilla warfare -- and he allegedly met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden a number of times, the statement said.

Rijal later went into hiding to evade Singapore authorities, the ministry said.

He was arrested with the help of "regional authorities" after Singapore's Internal Security Department discovered his whereabouts, the statement said. It did not say where he was arrested or give other details.

At the time of his arrest, Rijal was suspected of working with foreign JI operatives to discuss regrouping and reviving the network, the statement said.

He was arrested last month and detained on Thursday under the Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

The ministry also said that it released Anis Mohamad Mansor, another suspected Jemaah Islamiyah member detained in 2004.

"He had cooperated in investigations and had responded positively to rehabilitation, including religious counseling," it said.

Singapore was named an al-Qaeda target by alleged operative Khalid Sheikh Mohamed during a tribunal last year at the US military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Last month, the suspected local commander of the JI network, Mas Selamat Kastari -- suspected of once plotting to crash an airplane into Singapore's international airport -- slipped away from a detention facility.
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