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Eight men and 13 women between the ages of 21 to 39 were detained for immigration offences.

Witnesses told The Straits Times that they saw about eight police cars with a number of Gurkhas Thursday in the area.

The largest manhunt in the city-state's history has been underway since Mas Selamat Kastari, 47, escaped on February 27 from a detention centre.

He was accused of planning to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport in 2001. Indonesian authorities turned over Mas Selamat in 2006 to Singapore, where he was held under a law providing for indefinite detention without trial, until he made his break.

A worker said that the vice operation had been going on for about three years and was used by foreign labourers in the area.

The women reportedly made the den their home, equipped with makeshift beds and canvas sheets draped from trees.//DPA