SINGAPORE, March 23: Local authorities have arrested a member of a suspected terror group who once trained with militants in Afghanistan, the government said on Sunday.

Rijal Yadri Jumari, a 27-year-old Singaporean, was arrested last month for his suspected involvement with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement on its website. The group is a loose network of militants in Southeast Asia.

Rijal’s arrest was announced amid a nationwide manhunt for a top Muslim terror suspect who escaped a high-security Singapore prison nearly a month ago.

In Pakistan, Rijal joined Jemaah Islamiyah’s Al-Ghuraba cell, the ministry said. It did not say when.

“He was one of several students talent-spotted by the JI to be groomed to become a future leader in the JI organisation,” the statement said.

It said Rijal was sent to Afghanistan for training at an Al Qaeda camp in Kandahar in 2000. While there he was trained in weapons handling, explosives, surveillance and guerilla warfare – and he allegedly met Osama bin Laden a number of times, the statement said.

Rijal later went into hiding to evade Singapore authorities, the ministry said. He was arrested with the help of “regional authorities” after Singapore’s Internal Security Department discovered his whereabouts, the statement said.

The ministry also said it released Anis Mohamad Mansor, another suspected Jemaah Islamiyah member. He was detained in 2004.

“He had cooperated in investigations and had responded positively to rehabilitation, including religious counselling,” the statement said.

Last month, the local commander of the Jemaah Islamiyah, Mas Selamat Kastari – suspected of once plotting to crash an aeroplane into Singapore’s international airport – slipped away from a detention facility.—AP