SINGAPORE (AP) -- Singaporean security forces searched Thursday for an escaped terror suspect who allegedly plotted to crash a plane into Singapore's airport, authorities said.
Mas Selamat Kastari, said to be commander of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group's Singapore arm, escaped Wednesday from a detention center. He was allegedly involved in plans about seven years ago to attack Singapore targets including the U.S. Embassy, the American Club and government buildings.
"Mas Selamat was the leader of the Singapore (Jemaah Islamiyah) network. He walks with a limp and is presently at large," the Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement. "Extensive police resources have been deployed to track him down."
Wong Kan Seng, the Home Affairs minister, said Ms Selamat escaped after being granted permission to go to the bathroom while waiting in a room where he was to visit with his family.
"This should never have happened," said Wong who is also the deputy prime minister. "I am sorry that it had. An independent investigation is under way and we should not speculate on what and how it happened."
Security breaches are virtually unheard of in Singapore, a small and densely populated island whose sophisticated but unobtrusive intelligence system has been liberally used to ensure order and security.
Dozens of riot police trucks were parked along main roads near the Whitley Road Detention Center, from which Mas Selamat escaped. Hundreds of police officers and military personnel fanned out in the area, setting up roadblocks to check passing cars.
Several riot police trucks were parked along main roads near the Whitley Road Detention Center, from which Mas Selamat escaped. Dozens of police officers checked passing cars.
Singapore, a close ally of the United States, was named as an al-Qaida target in a transcript from alleged al-Qaida operative Khalid Sheikh Mohamed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, held last year at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The ministry said Mas Selamat also plotted to hijack an airplane and crash it into Singapore's main airport, Changi, in retaliation for the country's arrest and detention of some of his fellow Jemaah Islamiyah members in a crackdown on the militant group's operatives here. The alleged schemes were never carried out.
Mas Selamat left Singapore in December 2001 following the arrests of nearly 40 other suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members.
The ministry's Web site said Indonesian authorities detained him in February 2003 on charges related to possession of falsified identification documents. They deported him to Singapore in February 2006, the ministry said.
Mas Selamat has since been held in custody under Singapore's Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial.
Since 2002, Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a series of terror attacks that killed more than 250 people, most of them in Indonesia. Scores of its suspected operatives have been arrested across Southeast Asia since 2000.
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