Escaped Singapore JI leader still at large despite flood of tips: police

An alleged Islamic extremist leader remains missing two weeks after his escape despite an unrelenting search and more than 1,100 tips from the public, Singapore police said Wednesday.

Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the alleged Singapore head of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) which is blamed for deadly attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings, vanished on February 27 after asking to use the toilet in his detention centre.

Security forces were still conducting searches almost island-wide with a focus on forested tracts but were not "neglecting the urban built-up areas," police director of operations Wong Hong Kuan told AFP.

He said more than 1,100 phone calls and emails had been received from the public as of Monday after the authorities asked for tips to be called in via two hotlines or emailed to a police address.

Local daily The New Paper reported that a dormitory for foreign workers was raided Tuesday as part of the hunt for the Indonesian-born Kastari, while lorry traffic on the border with Malaysia was chaotic because of vehicle searches.