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As the search for Jemaah Islamiah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari continues, the three local telcos yesterday chipped in to spread the alert.
From noon, SingTel, StarHub and M1 started sending free MMS messages - with a photograph of the fugitive - to cellphones here.
There are about 5.5 million mobile phone subscriptions in Singapore, and most of the devices today are able to receive the Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS.
The image they got, or will be getting, is a photograph of Mas Selamat with a moustache and goatee. He is described as short (1.58m) and with a limp in his left leg.
A text message asks people to call the police on 999 if they see the country's most wanted man, who last Wednesday afternoon escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre where he was detained under the Internal Security Act.
For those who cannot receive MMS pictures on their phones, a text message will ask them to log onto their telco's website to view the fugitive's image.
The telcos said it would take at least two days before the image reaches all subscribers. Messages are being sent out in batches to avoid overloading the system.
SingTel also sent e-mail alerts about the man to its SingNet computer users.
The telcos' coordinated initiative is in line with the effort to get the public to act as 'eyes and ears' as the hunt enters its fourth day.
Indeed, the authorities have taken on board public feedback requesting more information so that the man in the street can accurately identify Mas Selamat, 47.
The police released only one photograph initially, showing him sporting a moustache and goatee. He had a limp, it simply said. But since Friday, more information has come in.
It is now known that he is 1.58m tall, weighs 63kg and the limp is in his left leg. A second photo of a clean-shaven Mas Selamat has been released and yesterday, pictures showing his side profiles too.
A check with Interpol's website showed it had other details. There are four photographs of the man, and another detail: He can speak only English and Malay.
Meanwhile, Interpol has issued a red alert for Mas Selamat on top of a previous orange alert.
The red alert means that any law enforcement officer among the international police network's 186 member countries can help arrest him on the spot.
Expert and public opinion is split on whether he is still here or has fled to Indonesia.
In the first two days, the police and soldiers massed around the Goldhill Estate area in Bukit Timah, which is near the detention centre.
But last Thursday night, they withdrew and sent out small groups of officers to sweep various areas all over the island.
On Friday night, a few hundred officers descended on the Bukit Batok Nature Park and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. They pulled out of the area yesterday morning.
Members of the public have also been doing their part. Teenagers helped to distribute 5,000 police fliers to passers-by in areas like Bedok, Clementi, Jurong and Toa Payoh yesterday.
Aljunied GRC MP Cynthia Phua led a group of 40 grassroots leaders to give out 2,000 fliers around Kovan MRT station.
On popular social networking site Facebook, about 200 people have joined five groups which set out to join the hunt.
They have put up pictures and news articles of Mas Selamat and held forum discussions.
Additional reporting by Jamie Ee, Teh Joo Lin and Chong Chee Kin
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