Public Security Minister Avi Dichter on Saturday called the escape of serial rapist Benny Sela an "embarrassing and fatal mistake."

In an interview with Channel 2 television, Dichter said he ordered the man-hunt for Sela to be conducted as if the convict had "already struck after escaping from prison."

David Tzur, commander of the Tel Aviv District Police, suspended the two officers who were escorting Sela at the time of his escape until the matter is investigated.

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Police are investigating the possibility that Sela, who escaped from a police car in Tel Aviv on Friday, received assistance in his escape from within the court system, as he was in possession of a summons for a hearing scheduled for Friday morning.

Sela is serving a 35-year sentence for 14 counts of sexual assault, rape and sodomy on women in the Tel Aviv area for five years prior to his arrest in December 1999.

In the afternoon, large numbers of police arrived at Tel Aviv's Central Train Station, after police received a report of a possible sighting.

Some 2,000 policemen and volunteers on Saturday continued the search for Sela across Tel Aviv. The coast guard is also conducting an intensive search along the beaches, and Sela's picture has been distributed to police stations across the country. The search also includes Border Police officers and air surveillance.

A heavy police presence was in evidence across Tel Aviv following Sela's escape. "No one is at home tonight," a policeman told a local resident Friday night.

Performer and television personality Uri Geller, a self-described telepathist, arrived at the rail station to assist in locating the convict, but police reportedly relied on conventional methods of pursuit.

According to Geller, he was "sending Sela messages to turn himself in."

A special investigation team established by Tel Aviv District's central police unit, which includes detectives who had worked on Sela's arrest, is trying to establish how prison authorities accepted Sela's court summons despite the fact that the Labor Court, where his hearing was purportedly set to take place, is closed on Fridays.

Police investigators believe that Sela presented the prison authorities with a forged court summons, which led to his trip to the court in the police car from which he escaped.

The police have not ruled out the possibility that someone inside the court had an active role in issuing the summons, but are also examining the possibility that it was sent by mistake.

Police detectives arrived at the Labor Court on Friday evening to review documentation on the summons.

Amos Yaron to lead probe into escape
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter announced Friday that he has appointed Major General (res.) Amos Yaron, the former director-general of the Defense Ministry, to head an external commission of inquiry into errors by police that led to Sela's escape.

Dichter also named Brigadier General (res.) Miki Bar'el, a former senior officer in the Military Police, as well as Brigadier General (res.) Udi Shalvi, the former deputy commander of the IDF Ground Corps, to participate in the investigation.

Representing the police on the inquiry panel will be Brigadier General Bentzi Sau, who was recently ordered to step down from his position as chief of operations at the Public Security Ministry over his alleged misconduct during riots in the north in October 2000.

The committee is scheduled to conclude its investigation and announce the findings by this coming Thursday.

Dichter overruled a decision by Israel Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi to appoint an internal police committee into the escape. Dichter, who was furious at Karadi's decision, called Karadi and Prisons Service director Ya'akov Ganot for a meeting over what he said was a "serious error" on the part of the police.

Sela spotted at mother's home
On Friday night, police launched a house-to-house search and set up roadblocks in Sela's mother's south Tel Aviv neighborhood after a local resident spotted a man fitting the description of the convict at her home. The witness reported that he also saw the man flee from the area.

Sela, 35, was handcuffed and wearing a white T-shirt, brown prison-issue pants and white sneakers when he escaped. However, his pants were later found in a public park on King David Boulevard in central Tel Aviv, and a witness said he had changed into jeans. The police have asked the public to aid in the search.

Police suspect that Sela has remained in central Tel Aviv, but they are also examining the possibility that he had planned his escape and had access to a getaway car.

The initial investigation into the circumstances of Sela's escape raises the suspicion that it was meticulously planned. A witness told investigators that he had worn the jeans beneath his brown pants in advance, apparently with the knowledge that he would need to get rid of the prison-issued pants.

Commander Menachem Frank, who had led the force that captured Sela in 1999, told Haaretz that, "Sela is a very calculating and devious man who plans his actions carefully. I don't know whether he escaped in order to exact revenge or in order flee the country, but there is no doubt that locating him will become more difficult the longer he remains at large."

Tzur said police were investigating why Sela was taken from prison on Friday, knowing that the city's Labor Court, where Sela was apparently heading, is generally closed Friday.

"We understand that there has been a serious mishap," said Tzur.

An initial investigation into the incident shows that early Friday morning, Israel Prison Service police escorts arrived at the Nitzan prison, where Sela is serving his sentence.

Police took Sela and another inmate to Tel Aviv for hearings. Sela's summons apparently had instructions for him to arrive at the Labor Court on Schocken Street in south Tel Aviv, but escaped when the police escort car first stopped at the city's Magistrate's Court to drop off another inmate.

According to police, one of the officers who escorted Sela said that when he was taken out of the car, he started running and jumped over a three-meter wall.

Tzur said that police have contacted some of the women who were attacked by Sela to inform them of his escape.

"We did not have information on Sela's possible escape and his intention to contact the women," said Tzur. "We haven't guarded their homes and we aren't convinced that they are in danger. I will not underestimate the risk, so I therefore sent an urgent message and turned to the public to aid us in his capture."

Tzur said that the first priority is Sela's capture, and police will then investigate the circumstances that led to his escape.