By Xinhua
Singapore : Fugitive terrorist and leader of Al Qaeda affiliate group Jemaah Islamiyah, Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from jail four days ago but the Singapore police strongly believe that he is still in the city state.
Singapore authorities said Sunday Mas Selamat escaped unaided and has no money, food or transport to leave Singapore, according to local TV Channel NewsAsia.
“There is no evidence so far that he has left Singapore. Therefore, our current efforts and top priority is to look for him. We will continue the search until we find him,” said Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng.
Mas Selamat, who is alleged to plan a plot to crash a hijacked plane into Changi Airport, escaped Wednesday from Whitley Road Detention Centre.
The report said extensive land, sea and air searches involving more than 1,000 policemen, soldiers and special forces are ongoing and authorities said they’ll search every forested area in Singapore as well as the urban environment like unoccupied buildings and buildings that are under construction.
Wong, also the home minister of the city state, also announced that an independent committee of inquiry has been set up to find out exactly how Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from custody and also to propose measures to prevent future occurrence of such incidents.