'Ruthless' JI chief planned attacks here

Among Mas Selamat's terror projects: plot to crash plane into Changi Airport

By Zakir Hussain

HUNT BY NIGHT: A group from the Ghurka contingent patrols along the Pan-Island Expressway just outside Catholic Junior College in a manhunt for escaped JI datainee Mas Selamat Kastari. -- ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN View more photos ESCAPED detainee Mas Selamat Kastari, 47, led the Singapore branch of regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah but escaped a government dragnet in December 2001. Some 13 JI members planning attacks against a number of foreign and local targets here, including the Causeway, were nabbed in that operation. The 1.6m-tall Indonesia-born former resident of Teck Whye Lane, thought to have worked as a mechanic here, escaped. He then hatched an even deadlier plot to hit back at Singapore for arresting his JI colleagues. Said to have been inspired by the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on America by Al-Qaeda, Mas Selamat and several other JI members planned to hijack an aircraft flying out of Bangkok and crash it into Changi Airport in early 2002. To circumvent stringent airport checks, they did not plan to carry weapons on board, but intended to have the two physically stronger members in their group force their way into the cockpit. But the plot was foiled when Mas Selamat's name appeared in the media, proclaiming him as being wanted in connection with JI activities. VIDEO Manhunt for escaped JI detainee (2:33) Other detainees MAS Selamat Kastari was one of 28 people currently detained under the Internal Security Act for involvement in terrorist activities. Another 31, most of them former Jemaah Islamiah members, have been released from detention but remain on Restriction Orders which limit their activities. ... more Still, he continued to harbour hopes of carrying the plan out one day, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament in 2003. He was arrested twice in Indonesia, in Bintan in 2003 and again in Malang in 2006, for carrying false identification papers. He was handed over to Singapore authorities in February 2006. He was detained under the Internal Security Act in March that year. Mas Selamat's involvement in JI began much earlier, in 1990, when he joined Darul Islam, a movement considered to be the parent organisation of the JI and that fought for an Islamic state in Indonesia in the 1950s. According to a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), he joined the group after he had heard Indonesian cleric Abu Jibril preach in Johor. By 1992, he had joined the religious council of the Singapore JI cell. A year later, he travelled to Afghanistan for military training supervised by another Indonesian cleric. In 1998, JI paid for Mas Selamat and another JI member to visit Afghanistan for a month to look at the Taleban system of government. The ICG report noted that they returned home 'deeply impressed'. By 1999, Mas Selamat was chosen by JI operations chief Hambali - now in US custody in Guantanamo Bay - to take over as JI leader here from Ibrahim Maidin, who was nabbed in 2001 and remains in detention. Mas Selamat's role included directing Singapore JI members to undertake reconnaissance of various establishments and handing over the material so gained to JI operational leaders based in Malaysia. The hit list included the United States Embassy and American Club, the Defence Ministry headquarters at Bukit Gombak and the Education Ministry building at North Buona Vista Drive. When detained by the Indonesian police for the first time, Mas Selamat had been on the run in Denpasar, Surabaya, Medan and Padang, before reportedly working as a farmer on Kundur island, about an hour's ferry ride from Singapore. Among other things, he had on him a book on the virtue of suicide. He told the police that he supported himself from his savings, but that relatives from Singapore who visited him also provided him and his family with funds. Mas Selamat, who used to sport a moustache and goatee, has five children believed to be aged between seven and 18 now. Security analyst Rohan Gunaratna of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research here described him as 'the most ruthless of the JI Singapore members'. 'His mindset is more Al-Qaeda, favouring mass suicide and mass fatality attacks. 'I think it will be hard for him to escape Singapore, but he will do his best to get to Indonesia,' he said. Dr Gunaratna said that the JI still presented a very significant threat to Southeast Asia but was largely confined to Indonesia and the Philippines, as operations elsewhere had crippled it. The ICG, in a report last year, said it believed JI had a solid core totalling some 900 members across Indonesia. It was not likely to be growing but retained deep roots and a long-term vision of setting up an Islamic state. 'The JI has some 400 trained terrorists who have fought in Afghanistan and the region, and bomb-maker Noordin Mohamed Top remains at large,' Dr Gunaratna said. 'I think Mas Selamat would look for the first available opportunity to link up with him,' he said. 'Every Singaporean must be alert and make a concerted effort to identify him before he leaves Singapore.' for full story, click here http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_211177.html