Large deployment of security forces will be scaled down to focused searches which is part of the next phase of operations. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

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But Mr Wong, who is also the Home Affairs Minister, said the deployment of large ground forces will be scaled down, but they remain ready for immediate deployment when needed.

At the height of the manhunt for the former Singapore Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant chief, who escaped from the Whitley Road detention centre on Feb 27, as many as 3,000 police, army and Special Operational Command forces were involved in the island-wide searches.

Since then, the forces have been conducting systematic searches of the forested areas, which they will complete in about a week.

Speaking to reporters during his visit to the Gurkha contingent at their Mount Vernon Camp on Wednesday morning, Mr Wong said the search for Mas Selamat, 47, will continue until he is caught.

But the searches will be carried out in a more targeted and focused ways, based on specific intelligence and leads obtained by the police.

VIDEO Strategy shift in hunt for Mas Selamat (4:48)

The other parallel operations, including intelligence operations and security surveillance at the border, will continue.

Mr Wong said Mas Selamat, who has been on the run for a month now, is still hiding in Singapore - based on 'the best available information from our own sources and from our foreign security and intelligence partners'.

'These partners are the same entities which helped us arrest him when he was hiding abroad in 2003,' he added. 'Our assessment therefore remains unchanged and we must maintain the pressure internally - continue to search for him and maintain our tight border security to deny him the opportunity to flee the country.'

'The nature and form of operations and methods may change. But the hunt will continue for as long as it takes until he is apprehended.'

Laws to strengthen coastal policing
Mr Wong said coastal observation posts manned by the police and Singapore Armed Forces have been set up as part of the tightened security checks on the sea borders.

But he said some 'physical barriers' currently exist at points along the coastline.

'If necessary, we will also amend our laws to strengthen policing within Singapore territorial waters to ensure that we more effectively detect and respond to a possible escape by sea,' he added, without elaborating.

Responding to the traffic jams at the border checkpoints due to stepped up security checks, Mr Wong said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will continue to work closely with stakeholders to explore practical ways to manage the vehicular congestion at the land checkpoints so that 'it can be restored or be as close to the same levels' as before.

Security checks at the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints have been tightened since Mas Selamat's escape. These include fingerprint scans and a full inspection of all vehicles entering and leaving the country, leading to massive traffic jams on the roads leading to the ICA checkpoints.

The jams, sometimes lasting up to eight hours, have not only frustrated motorists but also the shopkeepers in Woodlands Centre Road, who complained that their business has been badly affected.

Mr Wong said the JI threat is ever present, as seen in the recent arrest of a Singaporean who was earmarked to be a future leader of the terrorist network.

The Home Affairs Ministry on Sunday announced the detention of Rijal Yadri Jumari, 27, who had Al-Qaeda links, and had met the terror network chief Osama bin Laden. Rijal, like Mas Selamat, was sent for terrorist training in Afghanistan.

Said Mr Wong: 'Therefore, while we are searching for Mas Selamat, we cannot neglect the other intelligence activities and operations and cooperation that we have with other cities. That is a serious matter which all of us have to take into account.'

Read also Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiah down, but not out