Jakarta, July 01: A member of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant Islamic group suspected of plotting to crash a plane into Singapore's airport was sentenced to 18 months in prison in Indonesia for immigration violations, officials said today. Singaporean authorities have accused Mas Selamat Kastari of being the commander of the Singaporean arm of al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, and of plotting to attack US targets in the city-state and crash a hijacked plane into Changi International Airport. Authorities there have urged Indonesia to extradite Kastari, a Singaporean national. Jakarta has so far denied the request. Indonesian officials arrested Kastari, 42, in January on Bintan Island, a short ferry ride south of Singapore.

A district court in the town of Dumai on Sumatra island sentenced Kastari to 18 months in jail yesterday for not having the correct documents to be in Indonesia, a court official said. The court did not rule on whether he should be extradited at the end of his term, the official said. Kastari is believed to have fled Singapore shortly after the arrest there of 13 suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members in December 2001.

Jemaah Islamiyah has been accused of carrying out last year's Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.


Last month, Kastari acknowledged in the Jakarta trial of the suspected spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, that he was a member of the group.

Bureau Report