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SINGAPORE: There is no evidence that the alleged Singapore Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader who escaped from Singapore detention has fled to Indonesia as reported by an Indonesian newspaper, the government said Wednesday.
"We have checked with our Indonesian counterparts and there is no information that suggests that the report is true," a spokesman for Singapore's ministry of home affairs said.
The Jakarta Post reported Tuesday that Mas Selamat Kastari has sought refuge in East Java along with top JI leader Noordin Mohammad Top.
The report quoted Indonesian police sources as saying that Noordin, Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspect, is in East Java seeking treatment for a liver disease.
It quoted police as saying they believed Mas Selamat was also in the province.
Mas Selamat, who escaped from detention on February 27, is said to have close ties with the Malaysian-born Noordin and other senior JI leaders.
Security analysts have said that if Mas Selamat manages to flee from Singapore he is likely to make a dash to Indonesia and rejoin his JI colleagues.
The JI has been blamed for a series of deadly bombings in Southeast Asia, including the 2002 bomb attacks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people.
Singapore authorities maintain Mas Selamat remains in hiding here and have kept up an intense manhunt for the fugitive, combing forested reserves and suspected urban hideouts as well as tightening controls along the border with Malaysia and Indonesia.
Interpol has also issued an international red alert.
Mas Selamat, 47, was accused of plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport in 2001 but was never charged.
He was being held under an internal security law which allows for detention without trial. - AFP/ac
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