JI Leader Mas Selamat Escaped From Detention Centre
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The ease in which this guy escape and elude capture scare me...
This is a high security prison. You can't just walk out of there, esp when you are walking with a limp!?!?
That is why I think this is probably an inside job... either someone bribed the guards/staff or sympathetic with JI's 'cause'... which to me scare me more then the guards' incompetence... but this is pure speculation on my part... hopefully when the investigation is complete, we will have a full picture...
Also if it is a planned escape without any collusion from the guards, then you can imagine how ingenious and how organized JI is in singapore! To be able to pull off a escape from a highly secured location! This is like Mission Impossible! If they can pull this off, what is it they CANNOT do?
Also the fact that he is not yet caught also scare me.
Singapore is so urbanized. i mean, a person can't just 'sit tight' in some forest and subsist on rain water and berries indefinitely... he must come out to get water and food. And how can one person escape attention after all this time.
As such, if he does not obtain any shelter, he should be caught by now.
Unless he is 'hidden' somewhere already. If he is able to escape from the immediate vicinity and get to a fellow terrorist's home and stay there and don't appear in public, there is NO WAY we can catch him! right? We can't search every single home!
Now that scare me because it would mean that despite the ISA arrests, there are still JI cells operating in singapore who can hide him.... that means that terrorism is not completed eradicated....
Even if he is caught, I think heads should roll, there is no way this should be allowed to happen.
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The ease in which this guy escape and elude capture scare me...
This is a high security prison. You can't just walk out of there, esp when you are walking with a limp!?!?
That is why I think this is probably an inside job... either someone bribed the guards/staff or sympathetic with JI's 'cause'... which to me scare me more then the guards' incompetence... but this is pure speculation on my part... hopefully when the investigation is complete, we will have a full picture...
Also if it is a planned escape without any collusion from the guards, then you can imagine how ingenious and how organized JI is in singapore! To be able to pull off a escape from a highly secured location! This is like Mission Impossible! If they can pull this off, what is it they CANNOT do?
Also the fact that he is not yet caught also scare me.
Singapore is so urbanized. i mean, a person can't just 'sit tight' in some forest and subsist on rain water and berries indefinitely... he must come out to get water and food. And how can one person escape attention after all this time.
As such, if he does not obtain any shelter, he should be caught by now.
Unless he is 'hidden' somewhere already. If he is able to escape from the immediate vicinity and get to a fellow terrorist's home and stay there and don't appear in public, there is NO WAY we can catch him! right? We can't search every single home!
Now that scare me because it would mean that despite the ISA arrests, there are still JI cells operating in singapore who can hide him.... that means that terrorism is not completed eradicated....
Even if he is caught, I think heads should roll, there is no way this should be allowed to happen.
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I guess whose head ultimately rolls depends on how high the hierarchy they want to go up to. If you want to go ALL THE WAY, why stop at ah seng? Ask xiao lee to take responsibility as well.
I say the tail end personnel, or at least one or two level up before the taill end personnel will have their heads' rolled. last I check, during the commando water dunking incident whereby a life was lost, teo chee heng( minister of defence, rite?) head didnt roll, neither did the chief of army, or the chief of defence force (whatever their official post name is). ditto for the nicollhighway / ayer rajah incident (dun know under wat minisrty that will be).
Earlier postings got ppl quoting microsoft and bill gates... well my microsoft software screw up too sometimes, how high up should my complaint goes to? bill himself would have implement ppl to do QC, or development of software, or distirbution and sales.
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at this moment I do not want to think this is a Jason Bourne operation. Certainly do not want to make any assumption this is a intrapped.
so lets take this as face value.
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I think find the person first then qns on how he escape... But even if he didnt pre planned this, he ought to be living with someone close...
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... each day that passed without his recapture, reduces the chance of him ever being recaptured... eventually, we all will have to live with the fact that Singapore let loose a VERY dangerous person...
... this isn't going to go down well with a 'World Class' labelled country like SG...
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... a very good question asked... but don't expect a REAL answer...
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Why a lapse of four hours before public was notified?
Posted by theonlinecitizen on February 29, 2008Straits Times Forum Page.
Dear Sir,
The escape of Mas Selamat, and the subsequent response to the escape, has raised many queries. However, I would just like to touch on one sore point that struck me immediately upon hearing the news.
Why was there a lapse of 4 hours between his escape and the notification to the public? Remember the area is surrounded by houses and schools.
I would like to quote Mr. Wong Kan Seng. During parliament, Mr Wong replied: “Our security agencies assessed at the time of Mas Selamat’s escape there was no imminent danger to the public. The focus then was to lock down the Whitley Road Dention Centre and then start a systematic operation to find and arrest him. The priority is to arrest him. No efforts will be spared to track him down.”
Mr Wong added: “The picture of Mas Selamat is splashed all over the country. Look out for him and if there is any information of anyone that looks like him, report the case to the police and you can be sure the police will look into it thoroughly.”What a disappointing answer!
Are there techniques that can accurately predict the behaviour of a person? Can the authorities be certain that Mas Selamat, a desperate terrorist on the run, will not harm the public? What then has changed over the period of 4 hours? Why is the public’s help being sought now, and not from the very start?
Mas Selamat would understandably be desperate and feeling the heat. A simple, plausible scenario where Mas Selamat had limped to a nearby road and approached an unknowing member of the public to borrow a hand phone to contact his accomplice. Within an hour, Mas Selamat could’ve been anywhere in Singapore! Furthermore, we can only count ourselves lucky that he did not hijack a car, or take a hostage in his bid for freedom. Any number of people could’ve been injured or killed if that had happened.
Why wasn’t the public notified immediately?
I believe both such scenarios could have possibly been prevented by alerting the public to his escape and placing them on alert. Remember his limp would have made him easy to spot.
Furthermore, the area is bound by busy roads and residential areas. I dare say many motorists listen to the radio while driving. Would an immediate radio broadcast through all stations helped? Perhaps one of the drivers would have noticed something. Could immediate news bulletins through various avenues like TV Mobile, or SMS alerted the people?
Once again, why was there a gap of four hours? Did the authorities think that the public will riot in panic and fear if we found out about the escape? Well, the answer is all around you. Are we panicking? Or are we keeping our eyes peeled for a man with a limp?
All this has led me to one conclusion: that the authorities were hoping to apprehend him without alerting the public. It seems that the public was only alerted when the authorities recognized the fact that Mas Selamat could not be apprehended any time soon.
And this leads us to perhaps the most important question of all: If Mas Selamat had been apprehended within the four hours, would this have been reported and made known to the public at all?
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... what will our Elmer Fudd has to say if he can't be found?
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This guy being trained in Afghanistan and Indonesian for so many years may have learnt the Indonesian art of Kebatinan..It's Indonesian black magic that can hypnotise and render you invisible..The authorities knew this earlier because someone told me about it.. But remember, he escaped during a family visiting period... when there are swords and daggers all around your house and u cant escape, what can your outside buddies do? Remove them right..That may happen at that moment of time...Just an assumption that many of my friends concluded when we discussed this topic...
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already gone liao lar. sg security.... haiz....
catch ppl speeding #1
catch ppl throw ciggy butt #1
now?
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wow..tis is cool man..having live for 18 years i finally get to see a major wanted case in sg..tsktsk..hope it happen more..more lively..hehheh
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remember this guy is fighting for his life he will do anything to escape.
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Originally posted by idonno:
wow..tis is cool man..having live for 18 years i finally get to see a major wanted case in sg..tsktsk..hope it happen more..more lively..hehheh
u whose clone? -
We need L!
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Surprising to see that the detention facility does not have like 3 layers of not barbed wire, but CONCERTINA WIRE. Security is lapse...having been to S.Africa, seeing some of their houses, which look more like forts will bloody put that "high security" detention facility to shame.Not that concertina wire is much more effective as compared to barbed wire, but its simply due to the fact that a fence topped with barbwire, can be overcomed by climbing over it, or if the person has outside help, place a car rubber mat and voila, out you go. Concertina may be overcomed easily only if there are 2 or more persons, with one (this is sad) guy lying prone over the concertina so that his/her weight will cause the concertina to be squashed, while the other person walks over this guy and once over, haul the guy who is proned up.
But having a 3 layer concertina does delay and make the task more difficult.Also, shouldn't the walls around the facility have like razors or spikes (if they really budget, can use broken glass, which doesn't rust,but needs to be topped up frequently). A point that I ponder...are these holding facilities incl. Changi Prison, guarded by those Certis Cisco auxiliary police? Cuz frankly...shouldn't they be looked after by the Prisons Services people?
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if he's that well trained, he can survive in the trees with ease. But it is possible that has moved out of the area before they started combing and placing more people
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I wonder how many crimes unsolved were covered up to advertise Singapore as World-Class.
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Agreed. This is not ur average dumb terrorist. He is a planner and mastermind that is able to coordinate terrorist cells, taking into account from step one - completion. Consider even the logistics behind terrorist operations in order to keep them covert, and you have a glimpse of what it takes to be a terrorist cell leader.
All the more I cannot believe that this was not a pre-meditated escape. He must have seen a weakness in the compound security somewhere and needed an opportunity. He could have arranged for a family visit in order to create one.
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... I think this incident shows that "govt" is only good at keeping Opposition Parties at bay..
... but not a real terrorist...
... haiz, can say bye bye to the guy liao.. better build bomb shelters at airports from now on...
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Selamat Datang, Selamat Pergi...
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If he tried to climb through concerntina wire.. we will be looking for a bleeding with multiple cuts and limping guy... and not just a limping guy.
like someone mentioned earlier.. if a hawker murderer of Huang Na can flee to Malaysia, I can't see how we can deter a trained terrorist.
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Hi,
Why didn't they have a reward for any information leading to his arrest...
Like SGD1,000,000.00
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It is likely that people who might have information might be detered from reporting it....
Come on, who would want to 'get into trouble' right?
But if there is a reward, maybe more people will be likely to come forward.
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... stingy farks like them, a reward of this amount or any, would be last on their minds - or at all... already they are spending a lot searching for the mastermind...
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Channel NewsAsia - 2 hours 6 minutes ago
Where is Mas Selamat?
SINGAPORE : Businessman Richard Chan usually leaves it to his wife to pick their daughter from the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS). But on Thursday afternoon, he decided to accompany his wife to the school.
With Mas Selamat Kastari — terror detainee—turned—fugitive — still at large, Mr Chan did not want to take any chances.
"I may have not sent my daughter to school if I had known earlier," he told TODAY.
In what Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng described as a "security lapse", Mas Selamat, head of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network here, gave his guards the slip while he was being taken to the toilet at the Whitley Detention Centre, which is near SCGS.
The massive manhunt for the 47—year—old fugitive, who walks with a limp, continued on Thursday.
"Extensive police, the Singapore Armed Forces and other security resources are still deployed and no efforts will be spared to track him down," the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said last night.
The soldiers were brought in on Thursday to help the thousands of policemen, Gurkhas and men from the elite Special Operations Forces already deployed cover a wider area.
As the security forces continued to maintain its presence in the area around the detention centre, SCGS yesterday issued a letter to parents assuring them that extra precautions had been taken to ensure the students’ safety. Said SCGS principal Low Ay Nar: "Cars allowed into the premises are scrutinised more stringently."
Despite the beefed—up security in some areas, it seemed to be business as usual in many parts of Singapore. In Geylang Serai, several people interviewed said they were not worried.
The owner of a textile outlet, Mr Hashim Mohd Noor, believes that Mas Selamat will be caught "sooner or later".
Shopkeeper Chng Keng Chai, in his 80s, added: "I am not worried. If I see him, I’ll call the police."
TODAY’s checks suggested that many Singaporeans were more curious about the
escape itself.As Mr K C Cheriyan, director of a childcare centre at Goldhill Avenue and a former military man, said: "How do you escape from such a facility? How is it possible?"
Other questions that have cropped up: Was Mas Selamat acting alone? Why was he not restrained with handcuffs or electronic tags? Shouldn’t there have been fail—safe measures in the first place? Would his escape lead to greater security threats here?
Four government MPs also had some questions for Mr Wong in Parliament on Thursday.
Among them was Dr Teo Ho Ping, who wanted to know what was the level of security imposed on Mas Selamat during his detention. "This has raised concerns about our police force’s vigilance, and security operating procedures," he said.
MP Ho Geok Choo — noting the possibility that there could be a network operating in the background to help Mas Selamat escape — asked Mr Wong what more the Home Ministry could do to prepare Singaporeans in the event of an emergency.
Mr Wong urged the House "not to speculate" until an independent investigation had completed its work.
He also warned that anyone who helps Mas Selamat would be committing a "grave offence". Under the Penal Code, a person who harbours a fugitive faces a jail sentence that may extend to 15 years or even a life term, as well as a fine.
TODAY understands that Mas Selamat’s posters with his picture and a number to call are being put up in places such as bus interchanges and MRT stations.
Singapore’s neighbours were yesterday also on alert, with Malaysian security forces beefing up patrols and distributing the JI leader’s photos to various enforcement agencies. An Indonesian presidential spokesman told online news portal detik.com that Jakarta was coordinating very closely with Singapore’s security and intelligence agencies.Even as Singaporeans are waiting for answers to the "how", security experts are already grappling with the question, "what next?"
Some believe that Mas Selamat who once plotted to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport has four options: Hide and wait until there is a lull in the manhunt; make a dash for it and try to escape to a neightbouring country; or, if he feels cornered, Mas Selamat might resort to taking a hostage or even a reckless act of terror.
Mr Clive Williams, a professor with the Australian Defence Force Academy, predicted that Mas Selamat would try to reach Indonesia. "Because if he stays in Singapore, he’s going to be arrested fairly quickly," Mr Williams told AFP. — TODAY/il