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ON THE LOOKOUT: The police are not relaxing their guard, as joggers at MacRitchie Reservoir saw yesterday. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
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DETECTION measures are in place in the forested areas of Singapore, just in case escaped fugitive Mas Selamat Kastari ventures back to jungles the police have already combed.
A network of 'trip wires' have been left in areas they have searched - such as Bukit Batok Nature Park and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve - so they will know if anyone enters these areas again.
The detection system extends to urban areas too, including vacant and disused buildings.
The 'trip wires' refer to the people and equipment that will raise the alert on the 47-year-old terrorist if he does appear.
They include people who frequent the areas helping as lookouts, surveillance tools and observation posts, although the police could not be more specific with details.
At a press update yesterday on search operations for Mas Selamat, police operations director Wong Hong Kuan said this has, incidentally, netted some of the 66 illegal immigrants flushed out so far.
They have yet to have any confirmed sightings of Mas Selamat, who escaped from Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb 27.
Apart from detection efforts, Assistant Commissioner Wong also outlined two other strategies to capture Mas Selamat, who they believe is still in Singapore.
One way is to deny him space here by cultivating 'eyes and ears on the ground' to look out for him.
Police have distributed 210,000 posters and fliers, and broadcast more than 3.9million MMSes or e-mail alerts.
Even the arrested illegal immigrants have seen posters of Mas Selamat, said AC Wong.
Security watch groups, private security officers and coastal communities have also been briefed.
The other strategy is to make sure he does not leave Singapore. To ensure this, the borders have remained locked down and on high alert.
AC Wong said police believe Mas Selamat is still somewhere on the island. He said it took less than 30 minutes to impose 100per cent departure checks at all immigration checkpoints.
AC Wong said Malaysian and Indonesian police have a similar assessment that he is still in Singapore.
'It'll be his instinct to try to find a safe place to hide and wait for the initial search efforts to die down before he moves to escape. He's a very cautious person by nature,' AC Wong said of the man who, he added, has a mole just below his right eye and small, pursed lips.
Mas Selamat is also familiar with jungles, including those in Singapore, and would feel safe hiding there.
Police officers combed MacRitchie Reservoir yesterday as joggers went about their morning run.
Depending on the scale of search operations, up to 3,000 officers can be involved.
AC Wong also reiterated their determination to maintain the tempo of the search for the 'long haul'.
'We just need to continue with our efforts to make sure we sustain it, and not have this doubt in our minds that he's not in the country and therefore we should just call it off,' he said.'That's precisely what he wants: For us to have a doubt, for us to relax our guard, so he has the opportunity to escape.'
joolin@sph.com.sg
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