MORE than 100 SAF soldiers have joined the island-wide
manhount for Singapore's most wanted man, Mas Selamat Kastari, the
leader of the Singapore Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network, who escaped
from detention on Wednesday afternoon.
The SAF military police and guardsmen were brought in at about 6.30
am on Thursday to beef up the huge security blockcade around the
wooded Malcolm Park, near the Singapore Chinese Girls' School and
the vicinity.
They arrived in a convoy, which included a 5-tonner truck, several
Land rovers, and quickly took up positions along with the hundreds
of police, special operations and Gurkha forces that have been
massing overnight in the area near the Whitley Road Detention
Centre, where the JI militant fled at about 4.05 pm on Wednesday,
sparking the biggest island-wide manhunt.
Residents leaving the areas near Goldhill Avenue, Barker Road and
Malcolm Park, had their cars scrutinised and even had to open their
boots on Thursday morning, causing a long traffic tailback along
Dunean Road.
Students of SCGS, St Joseph Institution and Anglo Chinese School
were advised by their principals and teachers to stay calm and
vigilant and told of why they were surrounded by a strong police
presence.
But this was not reassuring enough for many parents who decided to
pull their children out of school for the day.
One mother, who would only give her name as Ms Tan, said she was
taking her primary school daughter home because she felt 'uneasy'
and preferred to have the girl at home.
In SCGS alone, more than half a dozen parents were seen leaving
with their daughters when they were told of the manhunt for the
runaway terror leader. All the schools in the vicinity were
carefully combed by the police forces before the students turned
up.
The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a brief statement on Wednesday
night about the escaped leader. It said Mas Selamat walks with a
limp, and was not believed to be armed.
The escaped terror leader, 47, took over as head of the JI network
here in 1999, and later plotted to crash a hijacked plane into
Changi Airport.
Officers seen checking houses, vehicles
Late on Wednesday night, officers with flashlights were seen going
house to house along Malcolm Road, near St Joseph's Institution and
behind Catholic Junior College, questioning residents and checking
the leafy neighbourhood.
Elsewhere, officers stopped vehicles at roadblocks
questioned residents, and showed pictures of Mas Selamat.
The alert also went out to all border checkpoints, the Police Coast
Guard, and even taxi companies, which broadcast a message to
cabbies telling them to look out for the suspect.
Scores of plainclothes police officers also swarmed convenience
stores and petrol stations, going through the leafy
neighbourhood.
The lockdown, from late afternoon through the night, gave the whole
area an almost surreal feel, with scores of police vehicles
flashing blue and white lights lined up along the roads.
There were roadblocks at several areas, and grim-faced personnel,
their neon green work vests glowing in the glare of lights, checked
car boots and spoke urgently into walkie-talkies. The huge
uniformed presence signalled immediately to residents of the
affected areas that something big was going on.
Some residents worried
Mrs Jasmine Lim, 42, whose car was checked as she entered Goldhill
Estate where she lives, said some residents were worried.
The mother of four said she called her two older children, aged 22
and 19, and told them to get home early. 'I have a security alarm
that I normally don't activate so early, but tonight I will,' she
said.
Senior accounts manager Terry Chia, 44, said police stopped him on
his way home and showed him a picture of Mas Selamat.
He did not think anything of it at the time, but said he began to
worry when he learnt that the escapee was a JI detainee.
The Indonesian-born JI leader escaped a dragnet that resulted in
the detention of 13 JI members here in December 2001. The group had
been planning to attack targets here.
While in hiding, Mas Selamat plotted to hijack a plane and crash it
into Changi Airport. The plot was foiled. He was arrested in
Indonesia twice, before being handed over to Singapore in February
2006, and has been detained under the Internal Security Act since
March that year.
from
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_211339.html
