Year 2001

Tag: Terrorist

Mas Selamat bin Kastari Escaped

Wednesday, 27th February 2008

At 4.05pm Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the JI leader, escaped from the Internal Security Department's Whitley Detention Camp where he was being detained. His family was visiting him at the time, and he was being led to a room to meet them when he asked for a toilet break. Mas Selamat had escaped through an unsecured bathroom window and fled. A massive manhunt comprising personnel from the Singapore Police Force, the Gurkha Contingent, the Police Tactical Unit and the Police National Service Key Installation Protection Unit were deployed in the vicinity of the area immediately after the escape. Followed by thousands of Singapore Armed Forces Personnel combing the forested area (very much like time the black panther escaped from the Singapore Zoo).


Mas Selamat extradited to Singapore

Friday, 3rd February 2006

Mas Selamat extradited to Singapore from Indonesia. Mas Selamat was then detained in Singapore's Whitley Road Detention Centre under the Internal Security Act without trial. Mas Selamat was arrested earlier in Indonesia on 20 January 2006 for using a fake identity card in Java, where he was visiting his son who was said to be studying at a religious school there.


Members of Jemaah Islamiyah arrested

Sunday, 9th December 2001

Members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) arrested for bomb plot. JI was formally founded on 1 January 1993 by JI leaders, Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar while hiding in Malaysia from the persecution of the Suharto Government. After the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, both men returned to Indonesia. Where it gained a terrorist edge when one of its founders, the late Abdullah Sungkar, established contact with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.


The Laju Hijacking

Thursday, 31st January 1974

The Shell Oil Refinery located on Pulau Bukom Besar, (an island lying south of Singapore) was attacked by four terrorists who were armed with submachine guns and explosives. The group comprised two Japanese from the Japanese Red Army (JRA) or 'Sekigun' and two Arabs from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The bloop attack on the refinery forces them to hijack the "Laju", a Ferry Boat, with five crew members as hostages. The terrorists started their bargaining. The terrorists agreed to release the crew of the ‘Laju’ in exchange for a party of 'Guarantors' . The team was led by Mr S.R. Nathan, then MINDEF’s Director of Security & Intelligence (now President of Singapore). The 12-men-team was made up of four SAF Commandos and eight other government officials. On 7 Feb 1974, arrangements were made to transfer the terrorists by boat from "Laju" to the Marine Police Headquarters and then by minibus to the airport. On 8 February 1974 at 0125 hours, the four