The Islamic militant suspect recently recaptured after escaping from a Singapore jail avoided detection for a year by living in an isolated Malaysian hamlet and rarely leaving his wooden house, a newspaper said yesterday.
The Star daily reported that Mas Selamat Kastari, one of the most wanted terror suspects in the region, lived in Tawakal, a village of less than 100 people in the southern Johor state. It said residents were shocked to find out the fugitive had been living among them.
“He never spoke to anyone and kept to himself. And he never prayed at the local prayer room,” resident Mohamad Saat, 56, was quoted as saying.
PHOTO: AP
Mas Selamat, the alleged Singapore commander of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group, was sometimes seen gardening or fishing in a canal behind his house, and went out rarely. If he did, it was usually after dark, dressed in a long white robe and white turban, the report said.
Mas Selamat escaped from a high-security Singapore jail on Feb. 27 last year.
Singaporean authorities said he was caught again on April 1 by Malaysian security forces.
Malaysian authorities have confirmed the arrest, but shared no more details. Police yesterday would not confirm the Star’s report.
Mas Selamat, a Singaporean citizen of Indonesian origin, is alleged to have plotted to hijack a plane and fly it into Singapore international airport, its government said. He was caught by the Indonesian police in 2006 and handed over to Singapore, where he was being held under the Internal Security Act that allows indefinite detention without trial.
He escaped detention in Singapore by wriggling out of a bathroom window just ahead of a scheduled visit by his family.
Mas Selamat is said to have used an improvised flotation device to swim across the Strait of Johor after his escape.
It was unclear why he ended up in Tawakal, where he rented the basement of a two-story wooden house on stilts, and how authorities learned of his whereabouts.
The Star report said Mas Selamat was captured in a pre-dawn police raid on the house. The landlord of the house, who lived upstairs, was also arrested, it said.
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