Indonesian Intel: Fugitive Terrorist in Singapore

JAKARTA, March 12, 2008 (news.xinhuanet.com) -- Indonesian intelligent chief Syamsir Siregar said on Wednesday that he believed that the fugitive terrorist leader Selamat bin Kastari, who escaped from Singapore's prison last month, was still in Singapore. Kastari was the top leader of the Southeast Asia terrorist network of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) for Singapore and was jailed for plotting to blow up Changi airport in Singapore in 2001. Many believed that he had entered into Indonesian territory which make him easier to escape from police hunting rather than in Singapore.

"I am confident that he is still in Singapore," Siregar told reporters after a meeting on security at the office of coordinating ministry of politics, legal and security affairs here. He refused the suspicion that the terrorist leader had already entered Indonesia. On March 8, Singaporean Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said that Kastari might go to Indonesia for consolidation as he was a leader of the JI. "Should he be in Indonesia, we had already arrested him," the intelligent chief said.