"We confirm that the third person has been arrested," a police spokesman told AFP by telephone from an operations center near Pulau Tekong, where the trio had desperately sought refuge after escaping from Malaysia's nearby Johor state.

No details about the third suspect were immediately released but the first two claimed to be an Indonesian and a Malaysian, both in their mid-20s.

The first suspect arrested Friday, believed to be Indonesian, was charged Saturday with illegal entry into Singapore, the police said. The second suspect was caught early Saturday.

The robbers had slipped into Pulau Tekong, a heavily forested islet reserved by the Singapore armed forces for military training, after fleeing Malaysia on a stolen motorboat last Thursday.

Some 400 military and 300 police personnel including special forces were deployed by Singapore to search for the fugitive trio following an alert from Malaysian police.

The search had been slowed by dense forests and swamps on Pulau Tekong, which is about 20 square kilometers (eight square miles) in size.

Media reports said the fugitives were suspected of carrying out an armed robbery at a market in the town of Sedili before stealing cash and a motorboat from a tour operator which they used to flee to Singaporean territory.

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