<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Mas Selamat was PLOTTING HITS ON S'PORE
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>He was 'planning a lot of things' when he was caught, says Najib </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Lee Hoong, Political Editor
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->JEMAAH Islamiah (JI) terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari was plotting attacks on Singapore at the time he was captured in Johor on April 1.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak disclosed this to Malaysian media yesterday, hours after Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told local media the JI leader escaped Singapore by swimming across the narrow stretch of water that separates Singapore from Johor, with the help of an 'improvised flotation device'.
Datuk Seri Najib told Malaysian reporters: 'We apprehended him here (in Malaysia), his main focus at the time was Singapore. He was planning a lot of things in Singapore.'
He did not provide details, but said he had 'mentioned this' to Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong when they met in Pattaya, Thailand, on April 10-11 for the Asean summit that was eventually aborted because of protests.
Mr Lee was 'very happy and grateful that Malaysia has succeeded in apprehending Mas Selamat', said Mr Najib.
Mas Selamat, leader of a group of Singaporean JI members, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27 last year.
He was captured in Johor on April 1, according to regional intelligence sources The Straits Times spoke to.
This was confirmed by Mr Wong at a press conference in Singapore yesterday, the same day The Straits Times broke the news of the capture.
Mr Wong said that as far as the authorities know, no local JI network was involved in aiding Mas Selamat's dash from Whitley to Singapore's northern shore.
Mr Wong, who is also Home Affairs Minister, said the Singapore Government did not inform the public of the capture earlier because doing so could jeopardise operational secrecy and perhaps even endanger sources of information.
The Malaysian Special Branch (MSB) and Singapore's Internal Security Department (ISD) both avoid premature disclosure that can compromise ongoing investigations, he noted.
'For example, sometimes, intelligence obtained from interviews of arrestees may put us on the trail of other terrorists. In such instances, premature public revelation of the first arrest would cause the other terrorists to flee, and compromise our ability to capture them,' he explained.
In the case of Mas Selamat, intelligence provided by ISD late last year helped the Malaysian authorities to make the arrest on April 1, he said.
Two Malaysian JI terrorists were arrested the same day, according to other reports.
'ISD has been following many leads. At the end of last year, one of ISD's own leads helped to pinpoint where Mas Selamat could be hiding. When it was generally satisfied that the information was credible, we passed the information to Malaysia,' said Mr Wong.
Replying to a question about the role of the Singapore public, he said a lot of information was provided but none proved credible, and it was ISD's own information that led to the breakthrough.
He noted that ISD officers had been in constant touch with their Malaysian counterparts, as with their other regional counterparts, to exchange information.
Mr Wong said the Malaysian authorities informed Singapore of the April 1 arrest 'soon after' it occurred.
Mas Selamat is currently being held under the Internal Security Act in Malaysia.
'The Malaysian authorities want to interview him, and in good time he will be returned to Singapore,' Mr Wong said.
He pointed out that Mas Selamat is still technically under a Detention Order issued by ISD and last renewed in March last year.
When Mas Selamat is returned to Singapore, he will be sent back to Whitley Road Detention Centre, he said.
'But today's Whitley Road is a very different detention centre from the one he fled. We have now made it very difficult for anyone to escape from there,' he said.
Mas Selamat's latest arrest is his third since 2003, and each time information provided by ISD proved crucial, noted Mr Wong.
The first time was in February 2003 when the Indonesian authorities caught up with him on Bintan Island. A botched escape attempt during his imprisonment left him with a broken left leg and a permanent limp.
He was not handed over to Singapore after he served his prison term and went missing for about five months.
He was captured a second time by the Indonesian authorities in early 2006 for using a fake identity card. This time, he was handed over to Singapore in February 2006.
He was held at the Whitley Road Detention Centre until his escape on Feb 27 last year.
Recalling Mas Selamat's past escapes, Mr Wong noted that he had told Parliament at its sitting on Feb 5 this year: 'Whether Mas Selamat is in Singapore or he has fled our country, we will hunt him down as we did before.
'And this is indeed what has happened,' he said. [email protected]
I'm the REAL HERO, OK? *chey*
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>He was 'planning a lot of things' when he was caught, says Najib </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Lee Hoong, Political Editor
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->JEMAAH Islamiah (JI) terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari was plotting attacks on Singapore at the time he was captured in Johor on April 1.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak disclosed this to Malaysian media yesterday, hours after Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told local media the JI leader escaped Singapore by swimming across the narrow stretch of water that separates Singapore from Johor, with the help of an 'improvised flotation device'.
Datuk Seri Najib told Malaysian reporters: 'We apprehended him here (in Malaysia), his main focus at the time was Singapore. He was planning a lot of things in Singapore.'
He did not provide details, but said he had 'mentioned this' to Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong when they met in Pattaya, Thailand, on April 10-11 for the Asean summit that was eventually aborted because of protests.
Mr Lee was 'very happy and grateful that Malaysia has succeeded in apprehending Mas Selamat', said Mr Najib.
Mas Selamat, leader of a group of Singaporean JI members, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27 last year.
He was captured in Johor on April 1, according to regional intelligence sources The Straits Times spoke to.
This was confirmed by Mr Wong at a press conference in Singapore yesterday, the same day The Straits Times broke the news of the capture.
Mr Wong said that as far as the authorities know, no local JI network was involved in aiding Mas Selamat's dash from Whitley to Singapore's northern shore.
Mr Wong, who is also Home Affairs Minister, said the Singapore Government did not inform the public of the capture earlier because doing so could jeopardise operational secrecy and perhaps even endanger sources of information.
The Malaysian Special Branch (MSB) and Singapore's Internal Security Department (ISD) both avoid premature disclosure that can compromise ongoing investigations, he noted.
'For example, sometimes, intelligence obtained from interviews of arrestees may put us on the trail of other terrorists. In such instances, premature public revelation of the first arrest would cause the other terrorists to flee, and compromise our ability to capture them,' he explained.
In the case of Mas Selamat, intelligence provided by ISD late last year helped the Malaysian authorities to make the arrest on April 1, he said.
Two Malaysian JI terrorists were arrested the same day, according to other reports.
'ISD has been following many leads. At the end of last year, one of ISD's own leads helped to pinpoint where Mas Selamat could be hiding. When it was generally satisfied that the information was credible, we passed the information to Malaysia,' said Mr Wong.
Replying to a question about the role of the Singapore public, he said a lot of information was provided but none proved credible, and it was ISD's own information that led to the breakthrough.
He noted that ISD officers had been in constant touch with their Malaysian counterparts, as with their other regional counterparts, to exchange information.
Mr Wong said the Malaysian authorities informed Singapore of the April 1 arrest 'soon after' it occurred.
Mas Selamat is currently being held under the Internal Security Act in Malaysia.
'The Malaysian authorities want to interview him, and in good time he will be returned to Singapore,' Mr Wong said.
He pointed out that Mas Selamat is still technically under a Detention Order issued by ISD and last renewed in March last year.
When Mas Selamat is returned to Singapore, he will be sent back to Whitley Road Detention Centre, he said.
'But today's Whitley Road is a very different detention centre from the one he fled. We have now made it very difficult for anyone to escape from there,' he said.
Mas Selamat's latest arrest is his third since 2003, and each time information provided by ISD proved crucial, noted Mr Wong.
The first time was in February 2003 when the Indonesian authorities caught up with him on Bintan Island. A botched escape attempt during his imprisonment left him with a broken left leg and a permanent limp.
He was not handed over to Singapore after he served his prison term and went missing for about five months.
He was captured a second time by the Indonesian authorities in early 2006 for using a fake identity card. This time, he was handed over to Singapore in February 2006.
He was held at the Whitley Road Detention Centre until his escape on Feb 27 last year.
Recalling Mas Selamat's past escapes, Mr Wong noted that he had told Parliament at its sitting on Feb 5 this year: 'Whether Mas Selamat is in Singapore or he has fled our country, we will hunt him down as we did before.
'And this is indeed what has happened,' he said. [email protected]
I'm the REAL HERO, OK? *chey*
