A CONVOY OF TRUCKS from the Special Operations Command heading for the Bukit Batok Nature Park on Friday night. An hour earlier, at about 7pm, cab drivers received a broadcast message asking them to look out for a limping Malay man who had been spotted in the Bukit Panjang area.

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But the overnight search for Mas Selamat Kastari - lasting more than 12 hours in thick undergrowth - proved fruitless.

The manhunt was conducted by officers from the police Special Operations Command (SOC) and the Gurkha contingent. By 10am yesterday, most of them had packed up.

The operation had started at about 8pm on Friday when the distinctive red SOC trucks with flashing red and blue lights showed up at the heavy vehicle carpark next to Ten Mile Junction in Upper Bukit Timah Road.

An hour earlier, at about 7pm, Comfort cab drivers received a broadcast message asking them to look out for a limping Malay man who had been spotted in the nearby Bukit Panjang area.

By 11pm, more than 20 SOC trucks had arrived. The men - elite officers in the police force who wore red berets and dark blue uniforms - gathered in small groups waiting for instructions.

But the real action - the manhunt for the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist - took place in the heart of the 36ha Bukit Batok Nature Park some 3km down the road.

This was the second major operation by the police and Gurkha officers since Wednesday, when Mas Selamat escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre.

On the night of his escape, hundreds of officers had formed a formidable perimeter stretching from Goldhill Avenue near Barker Road to Upper Bukit Timah Road.

They were just as meticulous in Bukit Batok.

The heavy vehicle carpark was turned into a holding area for those deployed in the manhunt. Besides the SOC trucks, there were also police vans, patrol cars and vans ferrying police sniffer dogs.

Officers huddled over maps and gave instructions to their men, who then drove to Bukit Batok, parked their vehicles by the roadside and entered the near pitch-dark forested areas to search for the fugitive.

Others fanned out along the perimeter of the park and lined themselves along the road, forming a cordon along Hume Avenue, Hillview Avenue and Bukit Batok East Avenue 2.

The drama was not confined to the park. Just before 11.30pm, there was a minor accident nearby between a bus and a white Toyota Vios, at the junction of Bukit Batok East Avenue 6 and Bukit Batok Street 25. No one was hurt.

Farther down, in Lorong Sesuai, vehicles leaving the park were checked by officers at the exit. Although visitors were still allowed to enter the park, there was no one inside at that hour.

The few pedestrians and joggers at the scene appeared to be more curious than worried about the sudden appearance of the police.

While some gave a cursory glance, others stopped to gawk.

Said sales manager Michael Tan, 41: 'Do you think he's inside? There're so many officers here. I doubt he's really hiding inside the nature park, but I hope he'll get caught soon.'

A police spokesman said last night that police and the Singapore Armed Forces had deployed more than 1,000 officers in the search.

cheekin@sph.com.sg

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