SINGAPORE (AFP)--An alleged Islamic militant leader suspected of plotting to crash an airliner into Singapore's Changi airport remains at large a year after his escape from detention, the government said Friday.
"The search for Mas Selamat Kastari is still ongoing and it will not stop until he is apprehended, whether in Singapore or overseas," said a spokesman for the ministry of home affairs, which is in charge of internal security.
The Singaporean Muslim's Feb. 27, 2008 escape through a toilet window in a detention center was an embarrassment for the Southeast Asian city-state, known for its strict law enforcement and tight, efficient security. The incident triggered a sweeping review of security measures.
Kastari was said to be part of the Singapore cell of Jemaah Islamiyah, or JI, an underground group blamed for the 2002 Bali bombing and other violent attacks in Southeast Asia.
Kastari, now 48, was accused by Singapore authorities of involvement in a plot to hijack a passenger jet in Bangkok and crash it into Changi, one of Asia's busiest airports, in 2001.
He was turned over to Singapore custody after being captured a second time in 2006 while on the run in Indonesia.
At the time of his escape, no formal charges had been filed against Kastari, who was being held under a law that allows for detention without trial.
A flood of tips from the public, some inspired by a cash bounty of S$1 million ($647,520) put up by two local businessmen, turned out to be apparent false alarms.
"Well, the search was pretty thorough and it went on for some months last year," said Tim Huxley, executive director in Asia with the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
"It is probable he is outside Singapore now," Huxley said. "It seems obvious if he is out, he is probably in a large regional country like Philippines or Indonesia where there is a JI network to hide him."
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has insisted Kastari will be recaptured.
"We don't know. He could be here. He could be overseas," Lee said at a forum of foreign correspondents in December, when asked if the government knew where the fugitive was. "One day we will catch him."
Security analyst John Harrison from Singapore's International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research suggested it would be difficult to find Kastari - but said "that does not mean that he will never be captured."
"Remember, he is a vicious terrorist who is well schooled in the art of escape and evasion," he said. "He is now putting those skills to use."
A government investigation found that moments before he escaped, Kastari asked for a toilet break before meeting visiting relatives in the Whitley Road Detention Center, just a 10-minutes drive from the Orchard Road shopping district.
As his guards waited outside the door, he squeezed through a window and climbed over the detention center's fence. There were no surveillance cameras monitoring the area.
Nine officers and guards were penalized for lapses that allowed Kastari to escape. Two were sacked and three demoted, but there was apparently no higher-level shake-up over the incident.
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Publié le 27 Février 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones