Unk Dicko was spot on about Mas Selamat !

When Mas Selamat escaped from the WDC in February last year, almost everyone pointed out his likely escape routes. ...either in the direction of MacRitchie Forest or Bukit Batok forest and elsewhere. Many netizens blog about his possible escape routes too including seeing him so-called limping away along Thomson Road. Haha !

But when I shared my calculated reasoning based on what I know and have researched on the criminal mind ( include the terrorist mind ) and then posted how I thought he had escaped detection....by using the drains at the Bt Timah canal and even hoped that the authorities would have read my blogpost, I was actually not fooling. I was serious about my postulating! The trouble was who would listen to an old Owl even if he is wise. Right?

We could have save ourselves much embarassment, wasted resources, manpower and precious time if only the powers that be have asked for feedback from the public...of which I'm one.



Read my original post of 2008 by clicking HERE. You won't believe what I wrote...it was bull's eye!



unk Dicko

Mon, May 25, 2009The New Paper

His four-day hideout


By now, it is well-known that Mas Selamat Kastari swam across to his short-lived freedom in Johor.
But how did the terrorist leader make his way from the Whitley Road Detention Centre to the coastline near Woodlands when there was a massive hunt for him?
A Malaysian source has now revealed that Mas Selamat, 48, managed to elude his hunters by hiding and crawling inside drains over three nights before he reached the coastline.
The unnamed source told Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian that the terrorist, who was recaptured on 1 Apr, relied on the drains as his main escape route.
The Singapore leader of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah had been planning his escape for about a year before he executed his plan on Feb 27 last year.
He broke out of the Whitley Road Detention Centre by climbing out of a toilet window.
Another report in Harian Metro quoted the source as saying that each time Mas Selamat went to the toilet, he would gauge how long his wardens left him there.
Said the source: 'Mas Selamat would test how long his warden would leave him in the toilet. The longer he was left there, the brighter his chances of escape.'
All this went into his final calculations on the best time to flee.
The source told Berita Harian: 'He decided to rely on using the drains as soon as he realised that authorities had intensified security checks over the whole island.
'He crawled through the drains till he reached the coast near Woodlands on the fourth day after his escape from the detention centre.'
It was from there that he swam to Malaysia crossing the Tebrau Straits to Stulang near Johor Baru.
The Malay-language daily said he relied on the cloak of darkness to make his escape. It was not mentioned where he hid during theday.
When asked how the fugitive managed to swim across, the source said he used an improvised float fixed on his arms, like how a child's arm-floats would function.
Making his escape easier was the relatively weak currents in the straits and the short distance between the two countries.
The source was also quoted as saying that Mas Selamat had worn several layers of different sets of clothes to throw off his hunters.
Harian Metro said this tactic was discovered when he went to his brother's house for a brief refuge before going on the run again. It did not give details of the brother or the house.
Said the source: 'To continue his run, he successfully evaded authorities by using women's clothes in order to slip through the security checks.'
On Mas Selamat's recapture on 1 Apr, the source said the police found him hiding in a cupboard when they raided a house in Skudai where he had been taking refuge.
Ready for capture
Said the source: 'Police believe that he was ready to be captured because he no longer wanted to live a life on the run.'
Earlier reports quoted a source as telling Bernama that he only managed to make contact with two friends who are ordinary JI members. They were captured together with Mas Selamat.
Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng had earlier said that Mas Selamat had used an 'improvised flotation device' to swim across the Johor Strait from the north shore of Singapore.
He said that intelligence provided by ISD late last year helped the Malaysian authorities to make the arrest.
Mas Selamat's latest arrest is his third since 2003, and each time information provided by ISD proved crucial, noted Mr Wong.
Recaptured, thanks to close ties
THE recapture of Mas Selamat Kastari in Johor was the latest and very significant example of the long-standing cooperation between Singapore and Malaysia.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said this in a speech at an official dinner last night in honour of Mr Najib Tun Razak's first state visit here since becoming Malaysian PM last month.
Mr Lee thanked his counterpart for Malaysia's role in recapturing the Republic's most wanted terrorist.
'On security matters, and especially on terrorism issues, our security agencies have a long tradition of close collaboration,' he said.
Earlier in a joint press conference, MrNajib said Malaysia would make Mas Selamat 'accessible' to Singapore.
When asked when the terrorist would be handed over to Singapore, he said it would be subject to further discussions.
He added he had shared with Mr Lee 'in confidence' some details learned from Mas Selamat.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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