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MS J L Aw did not suspect that anything was amiss when her car was stopped by a policeman as she was making her way home to Goldhill Estate at around 7pm. The officer told her that the police were just tightening security - and she left it at that. It was only later that she discovered the real reason: A big manhunt was underway for Mas Selamat Kastari, the leader of the Singapore Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network, who had escaped from the nearby Whitley Road Detention Centre.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Mas Selamat, who walks with a limp, escaped from the detention centre at 4.05pm. "He is not known to be armed. Extensive police resources have been deployed to track him down," the MHA said in a statement.
It also advised the public to contact the police at 999 if they know of his whereabouts.
International terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna described Mas Selamat, who had been detained under the Internal Security Act, as "the most ruthless of the Singapore JI members".
Mas Selamat fled Singapore in December 2001 following an Internal Security Department operation against the JI network here. He was arrested in Bintan by the Indonesian authorities in 2003 and deported to Singapore two years ago.
"His mindset is more Al Qaeda then JI. He had planned to hijack a plane from Bangkok and crash it into Changi.
He presents an immediate danger to the security of Singapore and the region and must be captured," Dr Gunaratna, the head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Nanyang Technological University, told TODAY.
"His escape is a surprise because the Singapore Government takes security very seriously. It's a freak incident. If he stays in Singapore, he'll be captured."
Following Mas Selamat's escape, at least 400 policemen, special operations personnel, and Gurkhas clad in army fatigues were deployed to form a human cordon that stretched from Anglo-Chinese School at Barker Road all the way down to Singapore Chinese Girls' School at Dunearn Road and St Joseph's Institution at Malcolm Road.
Mr Robert, a retiree who has been living in Goldhill Estate for 40 years, told Today that this was the first time he had seen so many policemen in the private residential area.
Other residents said police officers, with Mas Selamat's photo in hand, had gone from door to door asking residents whether they had seen him.
The manhunt was not confined to the area near the detention centre. Businessman Ng Ah Peng, who called the MediaCorp Hotline at 6822 2268, said that he was stuck at Tuas Checkpoint for about two hours from 6.20pm - the first time he had encountered such a long wait. Mr Ng, who travels from Johor Baru to Singapore daily, said he saw many policemen at the checkpoint.
At Woodlands checkpoint, some motorcylists told TODAY that the jam appeared to be longer than usual, but they attributed it to an annual festival that was being held on the other side of the Causeway.
TODAY's checks at Changi Airport terminals showed nothing out of the ordinary. However, one airport security personnel said he and his colleagues had been placed on high alert after receiving a notice of Mas Selamat's escape, along with his photo.
TODAY/sf
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