By now, YOU, as a singaporean, should recognise him. If you don't, you must have been living in one of the forested areas. But if you live in forested areas, then you might have seen him! Or so intelligence thinks!
Here are 2 pictures. Let's play Spot the difference =D
Mas Selamat bin Kastari, accused leader of the city-state's wing of the Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), released to Reuters February 28, 2008, with a moustache and goatee (R) and clean-shaven. Interpol has issued an urgent global security alert for the accused leader of an al Qaeda-linked militant network who escaped from detention in Singapore on Wednesday. Singapore said a "security lapse" led to the escape of Kastari from the toilet of a detention centre, leading to an apology from the government for a "security lapse."
Interpol's Orange Notice alert means that Kastari's photograph and fingerprints will be issued to each of the world police group's 186 national central bureaus.
"Singapore is clearly doing all that it can on a national level to locate this fugitive and through issuing an Orange Notice, Interpol and all of its member countries can support these efforts on an international scale," said Interpol's executive director of police services Jean-Michel Louboutin in a statement.
Kastari's escape is seen by some experts as highly embarrassing for Singapore, which says its tight security network and wide intelligence operations have prevented terror attacks on the island.
The leader of the opposition Singapore Democractic Party, Chee Soon Juan, said the escape raised troubling questions and asked the government for answers on how a man with a limp got past security measures or personnel.
"The debacle calls into question the competence of the Home Affairs minister," said Chee, who is not a member of Singapore's parliament. He called for an inquiry with police accounts and security camera footage.
Police said they arrested a 58-year-old man who made a call from a public telephone on Thursday claiming to be Kastari and threatening to attack multiple locations.
Kastari is 47 and has five children, according to local newspapers.
About 20 Nepalese gurkhas with sticks were combing a wooded area near the detention centre where Kastari was being held, a Reuters eyewitness said.
The manhunt, which started on Wednesday, saw thousands of policemen and army officers line roads and forested areas in Singapore. But their presence in the area around the detention centre was scaled back on Friday.
Security in schools near the area has been beefed up. A spokeswoman for The Learning Vine, a nearby child care centre, said it was running drills for toddlers in case of a bomb.
Local newspapers reported that Indonesian and Malaysian police have been alerted. Security experts told Reuters that Kastari's next stop might be Indonesia, an hour away by boat from Singapore.
Indonesia's National Police Chief Sutanto said authorities there were on alert. "Of course we will help Singapore, if he flees here. This is a common responsibility because terrorism is a threat to every country," Sutanto said. "For the fugitive, he would be better to surrender for everybody's sake.
But really, fuck him man.
How much paper have we wasted. How much manpower and resources have we deployed to play the trail and error or hide and seek game with him. Nobody knows if he has already left Singapore. If this is, tragically so, then the police and slowly comb the forested areas for people who hasn't heard of him and lives there.
And if you have seen posters around, tell me what you have seen. Does it go something like this?