Terror suspect Mas Selamat Kastari hatched plans to bomb targets here and in Malaysia as soon as he fled Singapore, says Malaysia's federal police chief, Tan Sri Musa Hassan.
Speaking with Berita Minggu, the Sunday edition of Malay daily Berita Harian, Tan Sri Musa added that Mas Selamat was waiting for his Indonesian allies to enter Malaysia before carrying out his plans.
However, his plans did not materialise because his allies, who were from the Indonesian city of Solo, backed out for fear of being captured. And Mas Selamat was captured by the Malaysian police soon after.
Tan Sri Musa did not reveal the group's specific targets for security reasons.
Speaking at the Royal Malaysian Police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur recently, he said: "He (Mas Selamat) was waiting for this chance. If they had entered Malaysia, it would have been very dangerous for us."
However, a raid by the Malaysian authorities at Mas Selamat's hiding place at a village in Johor did not uncover any tools or bombs, as his plans were at an early stage, said Tan Sri Musa.
Mas Selamat, 49, the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist group's regional leader, had been on the run for about 13 months from Feb 27, 2008, when he escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre.
While Tan Sri Musa said he did not know when Mas Selamat entered Malaysia, he said he knew how he had done it, but declined to provide the details.
The Malaysian authorities, with intelligence from Singapore, tracked him down to Kampung Tawakal in Skudai, Johor.
He had been living in the village of about 100 people for almost half a year before police ambushed him in a dawn raid last April.
Mas Selamat's whereabouts were discovered after Malaysian police traced telephone calls he had made to Indonesia, said Tan Sri Musa.
He had used a pre-paid mobile phone which was registered in someone else's name.
Tan Sri Musa said: "With cooperation between Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, we began to suspect an area in Johor because there were many calls made from there.
"We headed to the area to determine who was living there."
When the Malaysian authorities closed in on the village, they homed in on a family that was sympathetic towards Mas Selamat.
Tan Sri Musa said: "We became suspicious and started investigations when we noticed the family leaving the house to buy extra food."
News of Mas Selamat's capture was only made known to the media a month after the ambush so that investigations would not be compromised.
Tan Sri Musa said: "We needed to determine if he tried to contact his people in Malaysia or elsewhere. If we had publicised this, everyone would have run away."
He added that his officers are aware of who the JI members in Malaysia are and that they comprised only older members, with no new recruits.
Since his capture, the Malaysian authorities have even asked an Ustaz, or Islamic religious teacher, to convince Mas Selamat that his mission is wrong, with no success.
Tan Sri Musa said: "He stood firm and maintained that if he did not do it, Islam would not progress.
"When someone has an ideology, he will say that the ideology is good for the country and good for the people."
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