Singapore, Thailand to place air marshals on flights

SINGAPORE (AP): Singapore and Thailand are close to sealing an agreement to put armed air marshals on flights between the two Southeast Asian countries, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister said Saturday.

Tony Tan, who is also Singapore's Coordinating Minister for Security and Defense, said officials from both countries were already "putting in place'' arrangements for air guards. He didn't give further details.

Singapore already has a similar deal with Australia, and marshals are expected to be on board those flights before the end of this year.

"Air marshals will be a common feature on all international flights before very long. It is a valuable deterrence,'' Tan said, according to a speech transcript released by Singapore's Ministry of Information and the Arts.

Tan, who made the speech Saturday during a visit to Indonesia, said he was hopeful such an arrangement could be worked out with that country as well.

"I think Indonesians are very concerned about their airlines ... We (Singapore) have generally stepped up security and Indonesia is very conscious about this,'' Tan said in the capital, Jakarta, at the end of a three-day trip.

"This is an urgent matter,'' he said.

Singapore, a regional air hub, has been on heightened security alert since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States -- and the arrests in Singapore since then of more than 30 suspected members the al-Qaida-linked extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah.

Singapore authorities say Jemaah Islamiyah had been plotting to crash a commercial airplane into the city-state's Changi Airport, as well as other terror attacks in this wealthy city-state, which has close ties with the United States.

--Agencies 2003-12-20

Australia and Singapore have just begun an airmarshall program.