Singapore telcos join hunt for wanted JI leader
By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 01 March 2008 1834 hrs

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SINGAPORE: More sectors of Singapore's community are joining in the hunt for fugitive Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader Mas Selamat Kastari.

The telcos are the latest to help out as the search for Mas Selamat entered the fourth day.

Mas Selamat, the suspected leader of Singapore's wing of the JI terror network who had planned to crash a hijacked plane into Changi airport, escaped on Wednesday afternoon from the Whitley Detention Centre. He had been held there under the Internal Security Act since 2006.

Telcos like SingTel, M1 and StarHub will broadcast a lookout message on Mas Selamat.

A photograph of Mas Selamat will also be sent out to some four million subscribers via MMS free of charge.

For those who are unable to read the MMS, they will receive an SMS from the telcos advising them to log on to their respective telco website to check their MMS inbox.

Meanwhile, grassroots leaders and MPs like Cynthia Phua were at Kovan MRT station on Saturday to distribute posters of Mas Selamat to the weekend crowd.

MP Cynthia Phua said: "It's a community effort. The residents and the grassroots leaders are very responsive. When we called them, they came and they supported (us). It's really everyone, every Singaporean's role in being alert and if there's any information, we should inform the police immediately."

The posters were also given out at hawker centres and fast-food restaurants and in places with heavy human traffic.

Pin-ups of Mas Selamat, in the four official languages, are now a common sight
island-wide. They have been plastered in shopping malls and at bus and train stations calling on the public to report sightings to police.

The efforts have also been extended to schools like First Toa Payoh Secondary, where an emergency preparedness exercise was held as a reminder of the need to maintain vigilance and be ready for any emergency. The students also played their part to hand out the posters.

Authorities had earlier released two photo shots of Mas Selamat - one with a moustache and goatee and the other, clean-shaven. Both are front view.

Now, authorities have released side profile pictures of the man, who weighs about 63kg, is about 1.6 metres tall and walks with a limp on the left leg.

Authorities have also requested Interpol, the world's largest police organisation, to elevate its security notice on Mas Selamat to Red Notice, with an arrest warrant.

Anyone with information on Mas Selamat should call the Police at 999 or email to spf_police_information@spf.gov.sg.

- CNA/ir