SINGAPOREAN LINKED TO TERRORISTS NETWORK

A National Police officer told a Jakarta district court on Thursday (5/2) that terror suspect Muhammad Hasan alias Fajar Taslim, a Singaporean man arrested last year in Indonesia, was part of a terrorist cell operating within Indonesia, The Jakarta Post reported.

The terrorist network plotted to strike Changi airport with a hijacked plane, witnesses said.

"We received information from the Singaporean police that Taslim was part of Jemaah Islamiyah's (JI) Singapore chapter and had planned to hijack and crash a Thai Airways' plane into Changi airport in 2002.

"However, Singapore intelligence managed to detect them before they could carry out their actions," Yudi Rahmaputera, a police officer who helped arrest Taslim in Palembang, South Sumatra, told the South Jakarta District Court.

"They fled to Indonesia once they were aware their plans had been detected," he added. Five police officers were summoned to testify at Thursday's court hearing against Taslim and two other terror suspects.

Rahmaputera said Taslim fled Singapore with terror suspect Mas Slamet Kastari, an Indonesian with Singapore citizenship and leader of JI's Singapore chapter. They entered the country illegally in 2001.

The nine terror defendants are undergoing three separate trials at the same court. They are accused of planning to bomb the Bedudul café in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, and planning the assassination of several Christian figures in Palembang and Bandung. (Trade & Investment News, 9 Februari 2009)