Singapore Fugitive Islamist Leader Captured in Malaysia
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| Posters put up by local newspaper companies with headlines of Mas Selamat Kastari being captured is hung at local newspaper stands in Singapore, 08 May 2009 |
Singaporean officials say a man suspected of planning terrorist attacks has been recaptured after spending more than a year on the run.
In a statement Friday, Singaporean authorities confirmed that Mas Selamat Kastari was arrested in neighboring Malaysia. He escaped from a detention center in February of last year and was believed to be hiding somewhere in Singapore or Indonesia.
A report posted on the Web site of the Singapore Straits Times newspaper quotes intelligence officials as saying the suspect was arrested in Malaysia’s southern Johor state on April 1 in a joint operation involving security agencies from both countries.
Kastari is suspected of involvement in a plot to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Officials say he is a leader of the militant Jemaah Islamiyah Islamist group, which has been linked to the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Kastari fled Singapore in 2001 after the arrests of nearly 40 other members of Jemaah Islamiyah. He was arrested in Indonesia in 2006 and handed back to Singapore, where he was imprisoned under a law that allows terror suspects to be held without trial in some circumstances.Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
