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Top using couriers to evade capture
NOTORIOUS Bali bombing mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top has been using couriers to deliver messages to members of his terror organisation and avoid detection while he hides out in Indonesia.Top, who is one of Asia's most wanted terrorists, has been lying low trying to avoid alerting the police dragnet that has been closing in around him, according to Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty. Mr Keelty, who was in Indonesia last week for a terrorism conference, said the terror strategist had "gone to ground". "To minimise exposing himself in public, he has been using human couriers and safe houses," Mr Keelty said. On the run since the first Bali bombings in 2002, which killed 88 Australians, Top has been accused of involvement in a string of terror attacks across Indonesia including the Bali bombings, the blasts at Jakarta's Marriott hotel and the bombing of the Australian embassy. He was added last month to the FBI's most-wanted list and alerts were sent out "seeking information" over his connection to terrorist activities. Indonesian counter-terrorism officers have been steadily closing in on Top, one of the most senior members of the al-Qa'ida-linked Jemaah Islamiah, since the death late last year of his Malaysian compatriot, bombmaker Azahari bin Husin. About 30 AFP officers are working with the Indonesian police in the hunt for Top. They have also been looking for former JI leaders Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who are hiding in the southern Philippines and are believed to be operating with the militant Filipino group Abu Sayyaf. Security experts believe Dulmatin and Patek are less concerned than Top about using telecommunications equipment, and have been using satellite phones to stay in touch with fellow extremists in Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesian police have swooped in the past two months on a network of suspected JI militants who are believed to have been close to Top or to have helped him evade capture. The Indonesian army's intelligence officers have been interrogating the suspects, and are understood to have gleaned valuable information about Top's movements. It is understood the Indonesian police have also finished downloading laptops that were discovered after the death of Azahari in his Indonesian hideout late last year. Since Azahari's death and Top's disappearance, JI has morphed into a series of independent terrorist cells, intelligence officials told Indonesian parliamentarians in a secret briefing last week. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-03-06 |
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