<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>May 12, 2009
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Mas Selamat tried to flee <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Khushwant Singh
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
Mas Selamat Kastari hid out in the ground floor unit of this house at 15, Lorong Manggis, in Kampung Tawakal for about six months before he was captured by police in a dawn raid. Neighbours said he kept to himself and spent his time gardening. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE
</TD></TR><!--<tr><td>
View more photos
<div class="border_dbl2_bn"">
</div> </td></tr>--></TBODY></TABLE>
<DIV class=border_dbl2_bn></DIV><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD><DIV class=vclearleft>
View more photos </DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<DIV class=clear></DIV><DIV class=border_dbl2_bn></DIV><DIV class=clear></DIV><DIV class=marginb5></DIV><!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><DIV class=story_text>SKUDAI (JOHOR): Malaysian police had closed in on him and were shouting to him to surrender, but Mas Selamat Kastari refused to give up.
He clambered up to the second floor of the kampung house he was hiding in and tried to flee.
Police then kicked down the doors and brought him out with his hands cuffed behind his back and his head covered in a dark-blue checked sarong.
He was bundled into a police vehicle and taken away from the secluded Kampung Tawakal near Skudai, Johor, in the early morning of April 1.
And there ended his 13 months of life on the run.
Next-door neighbour Jamian Simin recounted the drama of that day to The Straits Times yesterday.
The 70-year-old retiree was having coffee when he heard the sounds of people running. He looked out of his window to find the capture of Singapore's most-wanted terrorist taking place before his very eyes.
Before that, he had no clue about Mas Selamat's true identity. No one in the village of 100 people had heard of him either, it would appear, except for his landlord and wife.
Mas Selamat escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27 last year, sparking off one of the largest manhunts in the region.
News of his capture was made public last week. He is believed to have swum to Johor using an improvised flotation device. Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
</DIV>
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Mas Selamat tried to flee <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Khushwant Singh
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mas Selamat Kastari hid out in the ground floor unit of this house at 15, Lorong Manggis, in Kampung Tawakal for about six months before he was captured by police in a dawn raid. Neighbours said he kept to himself and spent his time gardening. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE
</TD></TR><!--<tr><td>
<div class="border_dbl2_bn"">
<DIV class=border_dbl2_bn></DIV><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD><DIV class=vclearleft>
<DIV class=clear></DIV><DIV class=border_dbl2_bn></DIV><DIV class=clear></DIV><DIV class=marginb5></DIV><!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><DIV class=story_text>SKUDAI (JOHOR): Malaysian police had closed in on him and were shouting to him to surrender, but Mas Selamat Kastari refused to give up.
He clambered up to the second floor of the kampung house he was hiding in and tried to flee.
Police then kicked down the doors and brought him out with his hands cuffed behind his back and his head covered in a dark-blue checked sarong.
He was bundled into a police vehicle and taken away from the secluded Kampung Tawakal near Skudai, Johor, in the early morning of April 1.
And there ended his 13 months of life on the run.
Next-door neighbour Jamian Simin recounted the drama of that day to The Straits Times yesterday.
The 70-year-old retiree was having coffee when he heard the sounds of people running. He looked out of his window to find the capture of Singapore's most-wanted terrorist taking place before his very eyes.
Before that, he had no clue about Mas Selamat's true identity. No one in the village of 100 people had heard of him either, it would appear, except for his landlord and wife.
Mas Selamat escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27 last year, sparking off one of the largest manhunts in the region.
News of his capture was made public last week. He is believed to have swum to Johor using an improvised flotation device. Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
</DIV>
