Singapore Searches for Selamat Kastari
Friday, 29 February, 2008 | 16:29 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Singaporean government held a large-scaled search operation to capture Mas Selamat Kastari, 47, who is said to be the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) leader in Singapore. He fled the Whitley detention camp, Wednesday (27/2).

“This matter shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry,” Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister, Wong Kan Sen, told Parliament. Kastari escaped after being given permission to go to the toilet when his family came for a visit.

Kastari has been arrested since 2006 based on Singapore’s Internal Security Act (ISA) as he was alleged to be the mastermind of the plane hijacking which crashed into Changi International Airport in 2001.

After Kastari was known to have escaped, Singapore’s government soon deployed police and troops from the Special Command Unit to stand-by in every street. The police also deployed officers from the Gurkha Paramilitary Corps, which was patrolling throughout the city.

Singapore has also asked Indonesia to watch the border area.
The Singapore Police asked the Riau and Batam Provinces’ police intensify watching the gateways in the ports. Kastari was first detained for immigration violation in Indonesia in 2003 after having escaped from Singapore.

Kastari, who is crippled, ran away from Singapore in 2001 following the arrest of JI activists there by the security officers as the implementation of the Home Affairs Security Decree.


In 2003 Kastari was caught by Indonesia’s officers in Bintan Island. The court sentenced Kastari to 18 months imprisonment for an immigration violation. After he was released, officers in the area in Central Java caught Kastari again in January 2006. He was then extradited to Singapore.

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