S'pore looks into extremists links with al-Qaeda

S'pore looks into extremists links with al-Qaeda

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Singapore continues to investigate possible links between
extremist groups reportedly present in the island state and the
al-Qaeda terrorist network, diplomats in Singapore said.

The diplomats added that efforts by the Singaporean
authorities to investigate ties between groups working against
the Singaporean government and the al-Qaeda network were vital to
ensure the safety of its citizens and all foreigners residing in
Singapore, Antara reported from Batam.

These statements were made following an alleged bomb plot in
Singapore, which was revealed in taped evidence, confiscated by
Singaporean authorities from two of the 13 men, currently being
detained in Singapore without trial.

The men, reportedly members of the al Qaeda-linked Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) militant group, were detained for allegedly
plotting to bomb U.S. targets in Singapore. They made shaky
videos of the U.S. Embassy and other targets from car parks,
moving vehicles and boats, footage released by the government on
Friday showed, as quoted by Reuters.

Indonesian police officials who had recently tried to
interview the detained JI operatives in Singapore failed to do so
due to the mandatory review of the cases of the 13 men.

Indonesian Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Engkesman
Hillep and three officials are due to visit Singapore again this
week in order to carry out interviews with the detained suspected
terrorists.

The footage also showed covert shots of the Israeli Embassy,
the British and Australian High Commissions, the Changi Naval
Base and the commercial Sembawang Wharf. The footage of the
fortress-like U.S. Embassy, some of it shot from an apartment car
park across the road, included several close-ups of the guard
post.

A three-member board appointed by Singapore's president last
week began a mandatory review of the cases of the 13 suspects
held under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The footage released on Friday, which the government said was
found in the possession of two of the men, was among the evidence
examined by the board earlier last week.

The video surveillance of the four missions and two naval
facilities, conducted last October and November, was kept on two
VCDs marked "Visiting Singapore Sightseeing" and "MP3 -- Rock 'n
Roll", the government said in a statement on Friday.

Referring to testimony from one of the suspects, it said
filming of the wharf was conducted from a location in the
Malaysian state of Johor across the narrow strait separating the
two countries.

The suspects in Singapore can be jailed for renewable two-year
periods under the security act, subject to a review by the ISA
Advisory Board within three months of their detention.

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said last month the men
planned to blow up seven targets with trucks holding a total of
21 tons of ammonium nitrate -- some 20 times the size of the
fertilizer bomb used to destroy the Federal Building in Oklahoma
in 1995. The near-simultaneous attacks were to have taken place
in either December or January, he said.