Singapore uncovers plane crash plot

SINGAPORE - A Singaporean member of an Islamic militant group linked to al-Qaida is suspected of planning to hijack a plane and crash it into the city-state&#39;s international airport, Singapore&#39;s prime minister said Friday. <br> <br> The suspect belongs to Jemaah Islamiyah, a group implicated in an alleged plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy and other Western targets in Singapore, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told Parliament. <br> <br> Goh identified the suspect as Mas Selemat Kastari. He is believed to have fled to Thailand in January. <br> <br> Kastari was suspected of planning to hijack an aircraft from Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand and crash it into Singapore&#39;s Changi Airport, Goh said. It was unclear if the alleged hijacking plan was to be carried out simultaneously with the other attacks. <br> <br> Authorities say that Jemaah Islamiyah is linked to al-Qaida - the terrorist network believed to have carried out the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States - and is campaigning for a single hardcore Islamic state comprising Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines. <br> <br> Thirteen other suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah were arrested in Singapore in December in connection with the alleged plot to bomb Western targets and the U.S. Embassy. <br> <br> Goh&#39;s comments suggested that the group&#39;s reach was wider than Singapore. <br> <br> ``Jemaah Islamiyah may also have Thai connections,&#39;&#39; he said. ``In January this year, a Singaporean Jemaah Islamiyah fugitive, Mas Selemat Kastari, and four others were believed to have fled to Thailand.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Goh did not give names or other details about the other four fugitives. <br> <br> He told Parliament that Southeast Asia faces an increasing homegrown terror threat. <br> <br> ``It is not just al-Qaida we are concerned with. It is militant Islam in our region. The al-Qaida terrorists are primarily against the Americans. The radical groups in our region have a different, regional agenda. The two have combined forces,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> While Thailand is primarily Buddhist, it has a minority Muslim population in its southern provinces, along the border with largely Muslim Malaysia. <br> <br> In Bangkok, Lt. Gen. Hemaraj Tharithai, chief of Thailand&#39;s Immigration Police, said he had received no reports ``that Singaporean terrorists crossed the border to Thailand.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Singapore&#39;s Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew recently said that members of an Indonesian Muslim group connected to the Singapore bombing plot remain free in Indonesia, the world&#39;s most-populous Muslim nation. Lee&#39;s statements sparked a diplomatic row with Jakarta.

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