But Singapore authorities do not know where fugitive Mas Salamat is.
Mas Selamat (left) was accused of plotting to hijack a plane to crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport in 2001 but was never formally charged. -- PHOTO: MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE does not know if fugitive terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari, the country's most wanted man, is still in the country more than nine months after he escaped from detention, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday.
The leader of the Singapore Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group escaped on Feb 27 from a maximum-security detention centre. The incident badly dented Singapore's reputation for tight security.
'We don't know. He could be here, he could be overseas,' Mr Lee told a lunch gathering of the Foreign Correspondents Association.
He said Singapore tried its best 'to make sure he doesn't go anywhere' but added: 'Short though our borders may be, they are difficult to watch all the time.'
Two months after the escape, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng told parliament that security agencies believed Mas Selamat was still in Singapore, but analysts said he had likely fled to nearby Indonesia.
'What's the lesson out of this? Never let your guard down,' the prime minister said, describing Mas Selamat as a 'very determined man'.
'One day we will catch him,' Mr Lee vowed.
On rumours that Mas Selamat did not escape but was killed in government custody, Mr Lee said: 'I have heard that rumour. It's ridiculous.'
Mas Selamat was accused of plotting to hijack a plane to crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport in 2001 but was never formally charged. When he escaped, he was being held under the Internal Security Act that allows for detention without trial.
Singapore has offered a reward of $1 million, put up by local businessmen, for information leading to the recapture of the escaped militant whether at home or abroad.
Born in 1961 in Singapore, Mas Selamat fled the country after an Internal Security Department operation broke up the local JI network with a series of arrests beginning in December 2001, the government said.
He was arrested in Indonesia in 2006 and handed back to Singapore.
Regional authorities have blamed JI for a string of attacks, including the 2002 bombings in the Indonesian resort island of Bali, which killed 202 people. - AFP.
