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.