Where in the World is Noordin Top?

Tweet It!

Noordin Top

A top anti-terrorism official informed the AFP on Thursday that Noordin Mohammed Top is likely hiding out in Java, Indonesia’s main island. Top is accused of masterminding the deadly July suicide bombings on hotel in Jakarta. The Malaysian is one of Asia’s most wanted terrorists and is believed to have chosen to stay on the densely populated island despite a nationwide manhunt, security ministry anti-terror chief Ansyaad Mbai said.

Noordin allegedly also masterminded a 2003 attack on the Marriott that killed 12 people, as well as the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy and 2005 attacks on tourist restaurants on the holiday island of Bali.

Police believe they narrowly missed Noordin in a dramatic televised raid in August on a safehouse in Temanggung, Central Java.

“We’re sure Noordin is in Indonesia, basically in Java,” Mbai said. “Even sometimes he has gone out of Java but he always comes back. Basically there are groups in Java that support him… his favorite place is Central Java.”

Police also said on Thursday they were investigating the possibility the attacks were funded by phone or internet banking from the Middle East.

“We’re going to keep following this and making sure, but activities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia are the key link with Indonesia. We will have to look into it first however,” national police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri expanded on the matter.

Police this week said they had declared as a suspect Mohammed Jibril Abdurrahman, a radical publisher who went by the online moniker “Prince of Jihad”, for allegedly funding the bombings, possibly from foreign al-Qaeda brokers.

A Saudi national has also been arrested and accused of helping to fund the attacks.