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SNIFFING FOR LEADS: A K9 unit officer (left) and a member of the Special Operations Command, part of a team looking for Mas Selamat, checking an area around the Peirce Reservoir at Old Thomson Road. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
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A FORMER High Court judge, an ex-police commissioner and a senior civil servant will carry out an independent probe into how Jemaah Islamiah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari pulled off his prison break last Wednesday.
Separately, an internal probe by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will look into whether 'criminal wrongdoing' was involved.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng declined to elaborate yesterday, saying it is too early to speculate if an offence was committed to enable the detainee to bolt.
He said: 'We should not speculate ahead, but we must not rule out any possibility. That is why it has become a police investigation chaired by the CID.'
Mr Wong said security at Whitley Road Detention Centre, which is under the charge of the Internal Security Department, has been stepped up, and the 'physical breach' in the centre's compound plugged.
He declined to give details, saying: 'You will know that later on.'
The independent Committee of Inquiry will look into how Mas Selamat broke out of the detention centre and recommend changes to prevent similar break-outs.
It will be headed by Mr Goh Joon Seng, who served as a High Court judge for a decade before retiring in 2000. He is now a consultant with law firm Lee & Lee and is also a member of the Council of Presidential Advisers.
The second member of the panel, Mr Tee Tua Ba, retired as police commissioner in 1997. He was also director of prisons between 1987 and 1992, and previously director of CID and the Central Narcotics Bureau.
The third member is the Home Affairs Ministry's deputy secretary for security and corporate services, Dr Choong May Ling, who has held senior positions in various ministries such as Education and Finance.
The panel is expected to complete the review in a month.
Mr Wong said the system at the detention centre will have to be examined to get to the bottom of what happened and to prevent repeat incidents.
He added that he will decide on the parts of the committee's findings that can be made public.
'Definitely, the public will want to know how he escaped and what has been done to deal with the problem, and that part I will tell the public,' he said.
But sensitive information relating to operational procedures will probably remain classified.
Setting up such independent inquiries, allowed under laws such as the Prisons Act and Police Force Act, is rare.
MP Teo Ho Pin, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Law, said such independent panels are important in rooting out the truth.
Noting that the panel which probed the April 2003 Nicoll Highway collapse identified good worksite-safety ideas, he added: 'There are many lessons we can learn from this episode. This is a chance to re-examine and tighten our systems.'
benjamin@sph.com.sg
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