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Kastari cooperating; Singapore can't have him...
Indonesian detectives said on Tuesday that the suspected Singaporean head of South-east Asia's most prominent alleged terrorist group was cooperating with police after being arrested on the weekend. "Not bad, but not quite as cooperative as I'd like. Hit him there again, Mahmoud..." Singapore has been hunting Mas Selamat Kastari for more than a year. Indonesian police arrested him on Bintan island on Sunday night after being tipped off about his whereabouts by Singaporean authorities. Despite this, Indonesia refused on Tuesday to extradite Mas Selamat to Singapore. Chief of detectives Lt-General Erwin Mappaseng said: 'We won't extradite him, because we don't have an extradition agreement with Singapore.' How about if you just kill him, then? Singapore accuses Mas Selamat of being the head of the local branch of the regional Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). Mas Selamat allegedly hatched a failed plot to crash a hijacked plane into Singapore's main airport and helped Al-Qaeda plan foiled attacks on United States military personnel and their families in Singapore. On Tuesday, he was briefly paraded in front of cameras at the Tanjung Pinang police station on Bintan, before being returned to face interrogators. "Is this giggle juice fresh, Yusuf?" "Just brewed it this morning, Boss." Said Lt-Colonel Johannes Kwartanto, Tanjung Pinang's police chief: 'At first he denied that he was Mas Selamat, but he later acknowledged it. 'He is being cooperative.' "I'll talk! Just don't hit me there again!" Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-02-04 |
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