Mas Selamat: Diary of a manhunt

Mas Selamat Caught
Diary of a manhunt
NO MAS
Around 4pm, Mas Selamat Kastari escaped through a toilet window at Whitley Road Detention Centre, triggering one of Singapore's largest manhunt.
10 May 2009

27 Feb, 2008: The disappearing act

Around 4pm, Mas Selamat Kastari escaped through a toilet window at Whitley Road Detention Centre, triggering one of Singapore's largest manhunt.

28 Feb, 2008: Hello? I'm Mas Selamat

A 58-year-old man made a prank call to the police claiming to be fugitive Mas Selamat.

Within minutes, the police traced the call to a public telephone at Block 10, Haig Road, and arrested the man.

29 Feb, 2008: Sighting at cemetery

A petrol station attendant alerted the authorities to a limping man making his way to Bukit Brown Chinese Cemetery off Lornie Road. It was a false alarm.

29 Feb, 2008: Another sighting at Bukit Batok

Special Operations Command officers and Gurkhas converged on Bukit Batok Nature Park after a bus commuter's tip-off. But the overnight search yielded nothing.

1 Mar, 2008: False claims

Police sent on a wild-goose chase after a 49-year-old SMRT bus driver, Ng Hang Hai, called the police twice on 1 Mar claiming to have information about Mas Selamat.

Ng had a road-rage run-in with a motorcycle owner and wanted to get him into trouble.

On 24 Mar, Ng was given 21 months' jail.

Other mistaken identities:

# The police were alerted on 4 Mar after someone thought Mr Md Iqbal Hussain, 28, a Bangladeshi national who walks with a limp, was Mas Selamat.

# Comedian Ahmad Stokin, 51, who walks with a limp, also found himself the subject of unwanted scrutiny because of his likeness to Mas Selamat.

18 Mar, 2008: Mas Selamat in East Java?

The Jakarta Post reported on 18 Mar that Mas Selamat was seeking refuge in Tuban, East Java.

But this was later refuted by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

27 Mar, 2008: Vice den found instead

Police stumbled upon a vice den run by Thai nationals while combing for Mas Selamat in a forested area in Yishun.

Eight men and 13 women between the ages of 21 and 39 were detained for immigration offences in the jungle along Yishun Avenue 6.

5 Jun, 2008: 100 days after escape

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said that he believed Mas Selamat had not left Singapore, reiterating a point made in Parliament in April.

This is because the police has received no information that he has fled to another country.

Jul 2008: MHA says Mas Selamat not in Indonesia

No intelligence to suggest he is there, said MHA in response to a Sunday Times report that he might be in Indonesia.

28 Nov, 2008: Hunt in Bukit Batok

Cops swarm Bukit Batok area after a tip-off that Mas Selamat was spotted.

Police officers from the special operations command and Gurkhas swung into action.

But only an illegally built hut was found in the forest.

Dec 2008: PM Lee says we will catch him

PM Lee, replying to a question on where fugitive JI leader Mas Selamat could be, said: 'We don't know. He could be here, he could be overseas...

'But the game is not over and one day we will catch him.'

Jan 2009: More likely fugitive has fled

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said he could be in Singapore and hidden by sympathisers unknown to the authorities, or, he could have fled the country.

When asked which was more likely, he said the latter was more plausible.

Early April 2009: Fewer Mas Selamat posters seen

Since early last month, posters of the fugitive slowly disappeared from public spaces.

REMAIN ON GUARD

'Yes, we've got Mas Selamat in Malaysia and we'll get him back one day but do not for one moment believe that there will be no JI or terrorist threat now. Singaporeans must not think that just because Mas Selamat is arrested, the threat of terrorism will not be there anymore.

'It's important that Singaporeans be on guard. More importantly, it is important for all of our agencies to remain vigilant.

'Apart from Mas Selamat, there are other JI members still out there, and we haven't caught them, there could be many others that we do not know of. So we must not believe that with the arrest of Mas Selamat, we can let our guard down.'

- DPM Wong Kan Seng

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