Mas Selamat bin Kastari

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mas Selamat Kastari

Mas Selamat Kastari (born 23 January 1961, Indonesia), a Singaporean, was Singapore's most wanted terror suspect and was allegedly the head of the Singapore branch of militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). In January 2006, Mas Selamat was arrested by Indonesian anti-terror squad in Java. He is suspected for plotting to bomb Changi International Airport in 2002.^[1]

[edit] Overview

According to Singapore intelligence authorities, Mas Selamat has met Hambali, the leader of JI, and discuss various terror plots including hijacking a plane and crash it into the Changi Airport. He escaped from Singapore in 2001 before authorities conducted a massive operation to arrest suspected JI members in December 2001.

[edit] Arrests

Mas Selamat had earlier been arrested in February 2003 in the island of Bintan to assist Indonesian police in their investigations of several bombings in Indonesia in 2001 and 2002. Mas Selamat had changed his identity, assuming the name of Edy Heriyanto and obtained an Indonesian passport. Found in his possession were literature on making bombs. He was jailed for 18 months in 2003 for immigration offences.^[1] He was however not handed over to Singapore upon his release. Indonesia and Singapore do not yet have an extradition treaty.

On 20 January 2006, he was arrested again 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. Singapore requested for Mas Selamat's extradition and he was handed over to Singapore on February 3.^[2] Mas Selamat is detained in Singapore under the Internal Security Act.^[3] The Malaysian intelligence authorities also want to question Mas Selamat who had made frequent visits to Johor before fleeing to Indonesia.^[1]