SHE was enjoying her usual evening jog when she saw the Whitley Road area swarming with armed police officers.

Ms Samantha Wong, 44, was surprised when a police officer approached her and showed her a photocopied picture of a man and asked if she had seen him.

'I was told he had escaped and that he was short and walked with a limp,' said Ms Wong, who lives in the area.

She said she was shocked by the news, but did not recognise the man's face.

She would later find out that he was Singapore's most wanted man.

ESCAPE

Jemaah Islamiah (JI) detainee Mas Selamat Kastari, 45, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre at 4.05pm yesterday and, at press time, was on the run.

The police immediately mounted a massive manhunt in the area.

It is understood that checks were also made at the Tuas and Woodlands immigration checkpoints.

At the Tuas checkpoint around 6pm, student Tan Thiam Chye, 25, said all immigration clearance was stopped for about 15 minutes, causing a traffic build-up.

'Immigration officers were holding a picture of a man and they were passing it around,' said Mr Tan, who was on his way to Johor on a bus.

Mas Selamat, who walks with a limp, is not known to be armed, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a press release yesterday.

He had led the Singapore JI network and was among five JI members detained here under the Internal Security Act in 2006.

He had even plotted to hit Changi Airport with a hijacked plane.

By 6pm, across the highway from the Whitley Detention Centre, just behind Catholic Junior College, police were moving into the quiet estate.

Gurkhas and armed officers withred berets, wearing bullet-proof vests, with kukris around their waists and holding revolvers, lined Malcolm Road, Mount Rosie Road, Mount Pleasant Road and Whitley Road.

There were also more than 20 police vehicles along those roads, including Special Operations Command vehicles, fast response saloon cars, Toyota Hi-Lux sport utility vehicles and blue buses.

The New Paper also spotted police along the Pan-Island Expressway towards Onraet Road.

Officers holding maps were seen instructing their teams to move into certain areas.

They stopped several joggers between 6pm and 7pm to ask them if they had seen the fugitive.

The police line in the Whitley area, with police officers spaced about 10m apart, went as far as Chancery Lane and Goldhill Avenue, near Barker Road, onto Dunearn Road.

Car washers at the Esso petrol station outside St Joseph's Institution were curious when a Special Operations Command vehicle pulled up outside their car wash station at 7pm.

They had no idea what was going on.

At about 7.50pm, when a group of students going to the bus stop asked the police what was happening, they were simply told that it was 'an operation'.

One teenager walking up Goldhill Avenue jokingly asked if it was safe for him to continue walking.

On Internet forums, one reader, Mr Tang, was alarmed to read a related post from netizen AS1 before Mas Selamat's escape was televised.

AS1 wrote: 'Lets say there was a jailbreak today and the criminal is (on the) loose in Toa Payoh with lots of police officers after him, how long you think it will take?'

Officers were also seen knocking on doors, asking residents if they had seen the man.

FALSE ALARM

Just before 10pm, another bit of excitement erupted along Goldhill Avenue when an elderly woman claimed to have seen a man trying to climb down from a neighbour's roof. She had been walking around the back of her house.

Police swarmed the house to check and also combed the neighbour's house.

After about 15 minutes, they ascertained that there was no one on either roof and left.

They reassured residents that there was no need for alarm and that the area was surrounded by police.

Into the night, a few residents were seen walking their dogs and talking to reporters and police along the road.

Police were also stopping vehicles to check.

One passer-by who declined to be named said she was not alarmed by the heavy police presence as she thought a VIP was in the area.

Mr Bryan Toh, 30, who was waiting for a bus outside the Tanglin Community Centre along Whitley Road, was alarmed to see so many officers, calling the escape 'unbelievable' in Singapore.

There were also murmurs outside the Tanglin CC about an escaped prisoner.

Mr Chris Lee, 38, who has just finished Aikido lessons at the club, did not feel his safety was immediately compromised.

'He would have no weapons,' he said.

Madam Chang Wen Wen, 53, who lives near the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Stevens Road, immediately alerted her daughter to return home early.

She said: 'Naturally we have to be extra cautious.

'I wonder how this could have happened in Singapore because I thought we have a very tight security system.'

The public have been advised to immediately call the police on 999 if they know of Mas Selamat's whereabouts.

Who is Mas Selamat Kastari?

• He was Singapore's most wanted man when he was on the run from December 2001 to February 2006.
• Former head of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist cell here.
• Wanted to crash a hijacked plane into Changi Airport. Other targets: US personnel and naval vessels, the Defence Ministry, water pipelines from Malaysia, US Embassy and the American Club.
• Joined Singapore JI around 1992. Had military training in Afghanistan in 1993. Returned in 1998 to study Taliban system of government.
• After 2001 crackdown, went on run to different places in South-east Asia.
• Arrested in Tanjong Pinang, Indonesia, in 2003. In and out of jail until final arrest in 2006 in Java. Deported to Singapore soon after that.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Feb 28, 2008