The Board will sit again next week to examine witnesses. The Board will schedule additional sessions if it needs to and is empowered to call for documents and witnesses to be examined by it. After its deliberation, the Board will report its findings and recommendations to the President.

Among the evidence examined by the Advisory Board earlier this week were:

a) the VCD of the reconnaissance conducted by foreign terrorists, "Sammy" and "Mike", and members of the second cell, Fiah Musa, of the US and Israeli Embassies, and the British and Australian High Commissions in Oct 2001 (see details at Annex A); and

b) the VCD of the reconnaissance of Sembawang Wharf and Changi Naval Base conducted in Nov 2001 by three members of Fiah Musa viz Mohd Ellias s/o Mohd Khan, Mohd Nazir bin Mohd Uthman, and Adnan bin Musa on the instruction of "Mike" (see details at Annex B).

1. VCD of recce by JI members

5. Government statement of 11 Jan 2002: http://notesapp.internet.gov.sg/MHAPCS/Pressliv.nsf/pressliv.nsf/0/C846C6E70DFB447F48256B3E00431088?Opendocument

-----------

Reconnaissances of US Embassy & British &

This video-clip (see Annex A1) contains video footage taken from a static position as well as in a moving car of reconnaissances of potential targets in Singapore for terrorist attacks. The video recording was stored in a VCD bearing a disguise label - "Visiting Singapore Sightseeing". The VCD was found in the search of the office of Fathi Abu Bakar Bafana.

Fathi and his fellow JI cell members, Adnan bin Musa, Mohd Ellias s/o Mohd Khan and Mohd Nazir bin Mohd Uthman, belonged to the JI cell called Fiah Musa. They were directed to conduct the reconnaissance in question by two foreign terrorists viz "Mike" and "Sammy".

"Mike" has since been identified as Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi by the Philippine authorities. An Indonesian Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) bomb-maker, he is currently under arrest in Manila. His detention in Manila led to the recovery of 1.2 tonnes of TNT, 2400 metres of detonator cord and hundreds of detonators which were meant to be shipped to Singapore. "Sammy" has been identified as a Canadian of Kuwaiti descent with suspected Al-Qaeda links; his whereabouts are presently unknown.

The reconnaissances of the US Embassy, the British High Commission and the Australian High Commission along Napier Road and Tanglin Road were conducted in Oct 2001. The video-clip begins with shots of the US Embassy as filmed from the bus-stop across the Embassy. In one of the shots, Nazir can be seen sitting at this bus-stop with his back to the video-camera which was being operated by "Mike". There were close-up shots of the US Embassy security post. Some shots were filmed from the carpark of some private apartments across the Embassy. Shots of the Napier Road stretch were also filmed from a moving car driven by Adnan and these included footage of the security arrangements at the entrances of the British and Australian High Commissions respectively.

Adnan also drove "Sammy" and "Mike" to Dalvey Road for a reconnaissance of the Israeli Embassy. The video camera was operated by "Sammy". The video (see Annex A2) shows the cameraman hastily lowering the video-camera out of sight as the car passed by the Embassy’s security post.

This video-tape was essentially a rough cut version since it was the first recce attempt by the Fiah Musa group to ‘case’ the foreign missions. It was subsequently handed over to "Mike" in Johore. The group was expected to continue to conduct several rounds of surveillance, observation and video recordings before a final confirmation of the specific targets would be made by the foreign terrorists.

------------

The filming of Sembawang Wharf was done in November 2001. On the instructions of "Mike" who wanted footage of Changi Naval Base and Sembawang Wharf, Mohd Ellias s/o Mohd Khan (Ellias) and Mohd Nazir bin Mohd Uthman (Nazir) filmed the Sembawang Wharf from the Johor side. According to Ellias, the filming was done at a location in Johor which was situated directly opposite the Sembawang Wharf. Ellias said the initial filming was done openly but they later adjourned to a nearby seafood restaurant to continue with their filming so as not to attract undue attention. Adnan bin Musa, on his part, also filmed the Changi Naval Base and warships in the area. He did so on board a ferry on his way to and return from a beach resort.

The footage of Sembawang Wharf and Changi Naval Base was uncovered in a VCD disguised with the title, "MP3 – Rock n Roll", which was found in Ellias’ possession. The VCD showed a 7-minute footage of Sembawang Wharf and a close-up shot of a warship (Annex B1), and a 2-minute footage of warships at Changi Naval Base and its vicinity (Annex B2). (Note: The footage of Changi Naval Base and Sembawang Wharf were "shaky" and unclear.)

------------