(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-21 17:21

Singapore -- An unsecured bathroom window allowed a top Muslim terror suspect to flee a high-security prison in February, Singapore's deputy prime minister said Monday.

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said Mas Selamat Kastari, who was accused of plotting to hijack an airplane and crash it into the city-state's international airport, planned his February 27 escape in advance.

Announcing the results of a probe into the escape, Wong said Mas Selamat climbed out of a toilet ventilation window before a scheduled weekly visit with his family. The window did not have a grill on it, Wong said, adding that it was "the single most crucial factor which enabled Mas Selamat to escape."

The escape triggered a monthlong manhunt in which police, special operations officers, elite Gurkha guards and soldiers combed the island nation's forests amid tightened border security.

Wong said the Commission of Inquiry and the Criminal Investigation Department, both of which separately studied the escape, found no evidence to suggest it was an inside job.

Wong said the guards who escorted Mas Selamat to the toilet on the day of the escape had failed in their duties by not maintaining sight of the suspect when he was in the bathroom.

Wong said the officers responsible would be disciplined, penalized and replaced.

The incident was a "painful wake-up call," Wong said.

"Complacency, for whatever reason ... had crept into the operating culture" he added.

Security breaches are rare in tightly controlled Singapore, an island nation of 4.5 million people that is a 45-minute boat ride from Indonesia, where Mas Selamat is alleged to have links with the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network. Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for a series of attacks that have killed more than 250 people since 2002.