Finally, after escaping from WDC in February last year and on the run...Mas Selamat the J I leader who had triggered the largest manhunt in our history and caused huge embarassment to our government, has been caught while asleep in a safe house. [ Read the full story from ASIAONE...source: "The STAR"paper]He is currently being held in Malaysia under the ISA. The Malaysian intelligence branch hopes to elicit from him as much information they could get before they hand him over to Singapore side. Our side may also be hoping he will "spill the beans"on his incredible escape and reveal his network in S'pore.
Here's my perspective on this new development.
MS [ Mas Selamat ] may have been recaptured. But he is no fool! As leader of JI, a leading terrorist organisation, he has proven himself time and time again that he can outwit one and all..including trained security officers and intelligence officials. He may already have succeeded in his first concoction [ his first of many " truths" which may be all lies] to protect his network. Both sides of the causeway as well as experts interviewed in the press have said he must have an existing network to have accomplished his escape and remain active and undetected for more than a year.
Yet, all the headline news say that he swam across the Johore Straits with a flotation device...soon after his escape. This was repeated by PM Najib and our ministers too. My question is simple..."how did they come to this conclusion since no one had seen him doing so?!"
No camera had captured him.
The answer must have come from questioning him...right?
MS had more than a year to prepare for the day in the event he is recaptured again. He must have known in advance what sort of questions would be thrown at him such as...
" How did you escape detection after escaping from WDC?"
" How did you get out of S'pore?" [possible answer... I used a float and swim across at night].
" How this and how that...?."
Let us consider just 2 scenarios for his escape ( there can be many more!). Assuming scenario (A) was how he actually did it while scenario (B) is what he has prepared in his mind to answer under questioning, which are all lies .
A) He could have remained hidden in a safe house,place in Sg until arrangements were made
to ferry him across in a disguised fishing boat. The boat does not cross over to the other side(Johore) but transfer him to another Johore boat in mid channel under cover of darkness. Once on land, a waiting vehicle scoots him to his new hideout. This scenario can only happen with an existing JI network. Timing is important. He could afford to wait for weeks or months until our coastal alert for him has been downgraded.
B) He says he swam across with some floats...and within a few hours of his actual escape.
That way of explaining, and if they buy it hook,line and sinker...his JI network will never be revealed neither compromised. No one else has been fingered. He acted alone. No further arrests
possible since he swam across alone. He had no outside help.
I can postulate on and on. But my main contention is this...this man is an avowed terrorist out to destroy Singapore and established society. Do not be taken in by whatever he says.
Perhaps our government and those in ASEAN can come together and formulate new laws to tackle this kind of avowed terrorist. Make them pay the ultimate price. One strike ( once captured) and you are permanently OUT.
We have one of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world. A few miserable grams of heroin will get the trafficker HANGED! Compare the two scenarios...a man or woman convicted of a capital trafficking charge will be hanged. He or she may not have caused a single drug addict death yet as the heroin has been seized...right? But sure as day and night, the hangman's rope awaits!
Now, terrorists such as MS, Hambali etc..are actively planning to kill hundreds and thousands.
They have caused more disruption to our normal life, increased costs by the millions in airline security, airports, public buildings, schools, etc..etc..even without firing a shot.
Do we wait until they have actually crash a plane into our airport and killing thousands before they face the rope?
Remember ...the heroin trafficker whose powder has not "crash" the streets yet.
He will be hanged!
I leave you with this poser.
Between the two, who is MORE dangerous and MORE deserving of the death penalty?
Read my original posts on Mas Selamat's escape here.
>> ASIAONE / NEWS / ASIAONE NEWS / MALAYSIA / STORY
Sat, May 09, 2009The Star/Asia News Network
Mas Selamat JI leader nabbed in Skudai
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia:
Fugitive Mas Selamat Kastari, one of the region's most wanted terrorists, was nabbed while he was sound asleep in a secluded kampung house in Skudai, Johor.
The Singaporean terrorist who captured world attention when he escaped from the republic's maximum security Whitley Detention Centre in February last year, could barely put up a fight in his shorts and T-shirt when caught during a dawn raid in April.
Described as highly dangerous, the 48-year-old Mas Selamat who was trained in firearms and explosives, was said to be masterminding "unrest" in several countries in the region.
The Jemaah Islamiah (JI) leader of the Singapore chapter, who had a S$1mil (RM2.4mil) bounty on his head, had been living the life of a simple villager without arousing the suspicions of villagers there.
(The radical JI movement with key figures such as religious scholar Abu Bakar Basyir and Hambali was linked to Al-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden.
While Abu Bakar, who was jailed and then freed had denied any involvement in terrorist activities, Hambali is still being detained at the infamous Guatanamo Bay.
The movement, which aimed to set up a Pan Islamic state comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and the Philippines, was said to have carried out several bombings in Jakarta, Bali and Manila).
Regional intelligence sources said Mas Selamat, who escaped the maximum security detention centre by climbing out through the toilet window, fled to the northern part of Singapore before swimming across to Johor.
Mas Selamat managed the feat despite having leg injuries.
His escape greatly embarrassed the Singapore Government which then launched a massive manhunt, described as the largest ever in the republic, for him.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan confirmed Mas Selamat's arrest and detention under the ISA.
"He was planning something and that led to our arresting him," Hishammuddin told a press conference.
He said Malaysian police were working with Singaporean and Indonesian authorities on the investigations, and declined to say when exactly the fugitive was nabbed.
"There are certain things of national interest that do not just involve Malaysian intelligence but can affect our work with the other two countries like in this case and with Germany, the United States and Britain in the case of Al-Qaeda," Hishammuddin said.
Musa said the arrest was made possible as police in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia had been sharing intelligence reports over the past year.
"We have been in contact with our international counterparts who were informed about the arrest as well as what we have gathered from Mas Selamat since his arrest last month.
"Our officers are still investigating his activities and networking," he added.
It is learnt that Special Branch officers had been working on various leads since March and upon confirming his whereabouts planned the dawn raid that resulted in his arrest.
Mas Selamat who was arrested in 2006 in Bintan, Indonesia, was accused of wanting to crash a plane into Changi International Airport's control tower using either an American, British or Singapore Airlines aeroplane.
He was deported to Singapore where he managed to escape.
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