JAKARTA, 06 February 2006 - Singapore's most-wanted man, believed to have planned bomb and plane-crash attacks on the island's airport, has been arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Monday. Mas Selamat Kastari, said to belong to the Southeast Asian Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiah, was arrested in Indonesia two weeks ago and deported to Singapore on February 3, a Ministry spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Mas Selamat Kastari, a member of Southeast Asia's Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiah, is escorted by authorities in Tanjung Pinang on the Indonesian island of Bintan in this February 4, 2003 file photo.

Singapore can arrest and detained a person without trial for up to two years at a time under its Internal Security Act. "He was among those who had planned retaliation against Singapore for arresting and detaining his fellow (Jemaah Islamiah) members," the ministry spokeswoman said in an email reply to questions. "He is currently under ISA arrest and investigation into his case will now proceed."

Singapore intelligence had information that Kastari had planned to bomb Changi airport in 2002 and had also discussed a plan with Jemaah Islamiah commander and militant cleric Hambali to hijack a plane and crash it into the airport. That alleged plan never materialised. Hambali has been in U.S. custody since 2003.

Kastari fled Singapore in 2001. He was jailed on Indonesia's Riau province in 2003 for 18 months on immigration charges. Police sources said that after his release he faced another immigration problem last year and was imprisoned again, this time in East Java. It was unclear when he was freed in East Java province but Indonesia's deputy national police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said police arrested him again two weeks ago.

"And because Mas Selamat Kastari was on the wanted list in Singapore, we handed him over to them," he told reporters. Malaysia's the Star newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, had reported that Kastari was arrested in Java last week where he had gone to visit his son studying at a religious school. Indonesia and Singapore have no formal extradition treaty.

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