Singapore Foils Al-Queda Plot [11-JAN-02]
The affluent Southeast Asian city-state, home to roughly 17,000 Americans, has released information suggesting an elaborate plot by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists to strike targets including Western embassies and U.S. naval vessels.
The Singapore government also released a videotape allegedly discovered in Afghanistan in which the camera zooms in on potential terror targets. A man who narrated the video is now in custody. "These are the same type of boxes which we intend to use," says the suspect, Hashim bin Abas, as video footage shows boxes resting on top of bicycles — an apparent reference to plans to hide explosives. The video was shown Friday evening on Singapore television. These details came just days after the government announced the December arrests of 15 suspected Islamic militants suspected of plotting to attack Western interests in Singapore. The arrests and alleged plots have shocked the small island of four million people. Singapore has one of the world's most efficient intelligence-gathering networks and has long been a stable and prosperous presence in an otherwise chaotic region.
Thirteen of the suspects are still in custody and two have been freed, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said in a news release Friday. It said the 13 can remain in custody for two years under the Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial for anyone believed a national security threat. Those detained are thought to also have been planning attacks on the British High Commission, the Israeli Embassy and the Australian High Commission, the ministry said. The government said the 13 are involved in a secret organization called Jamaah Islamiyah, or Islamic Group, and that eight of them had been trained in Afghanistan by the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
"The group appeared to be dominated by foreign elements and subscribed to these elements' extremist ideology and its anti-American, anti-West agenda," the statement said. It said the suspects had planned to explode a shuttle bus carrying U.S. military personnel between a naval base and a subway station — in addition to U.S. naval vessels in waters northeast of Singapore.
The 15 were arrested in December after authorities found bomb-making information along with photographs and video footage of the U.S. Embassy and other buildings in the suspects' homes. The government said the suspects also had materials linked to Al Qaeda, fake passports and forged immigration stamps. The U.S. Navy has a logistics unit in Singapore and warships going to and from Afghanistan have been resupplied in the city-state. Last year, Singapore opened a new naval facility specially designed to accommodate U.S. aircraft carriers.
The groups seem to consist of three cells. The first cell was to target a shuttle bus service used by American military personnel, but for some unknown reason did not carry out its attack. Their leader, Mohamed Khalim bin Jaffar, was the maker of the video tape found in a bombed out Al-Queda headquarters in Afghanistan. They also had a second plan targeting US Navy ships that make port calls there.
The second cell obtained photographs in April 2000 of Paya Lebar Air Base and the U.S. planes there as a potential target. The pictures were found among bin Jaffar's possessions. The group also carried out surveillance of the U.S. Embassy, the Australian High Commission, the Israeli Embassy and commercial buildings housing U.S. companies in conjunction with a group from outside Singapore, two members of which told the cell they had stockpiled four tons of ammonium nitrate in Malaysia and needed 17 more. Mohamed Elias, a 29-year-old manager, tried to make the purchase but was arrested by Singapore authorities before he could do so.
A third cell formed after last September's terror attacks in the United States. They observed targets that included U.S. companies, but stopped when they heard other suspects had been arrested by Singapore authorities.