Basically, more recruits, thanks to the social ties and family links his group has promoted and funding. Indonesian police is now investigating JI’s offshoot Tamzin Qaidat al-Jihad, the terrorist group created by Noordin.
The country’s most wanted terrorist, Noordin M. Top, and his group, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), have recruited and trained nearly 450 members for bombing operations since 2000.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said Sunday that Noordin and JI, believed to be the regional arm of global terrorist network al-Qaeda, had provided training in bomb manufacturing, weapons handling, combat skills, recruitment techniques and suicide bombing to around 440 new recruits from across the archipelago.
“We can base these figures from [information provided by] members we have arrested and from those who have served time in jail. We have arrested and brought many of them to trial, while we continue trying to track down others,” he said.
Nanan said programs to rehabilitate and monitor convicted terrorists were weak, and with around 200 released from prison since 2002, the fear was that many would rejoin their former terror networks and radical sympathizers.
Nanan said links between suspects thought responsible for the 2004 Australian Embassy attack and the recent J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel bombings was testament to how the legal system had failed to deter future terrorist activity. Air Setiawan and Eko Joko Sarjono, who were suspects in the 2004 bombing, blew themselves up in last month’s attacks in Jakarta that left 9 dead and more than 50 injured.
New recruits, funding keep Noordin, JI on the attack | The Jakarta Post
It seems that the origin of this unlimited funding is in other countries. One of them is Saudi Arabia, although police haven’t been able to obtain evidence to proof it yet:
A man believed to be from Saudi Arabia has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling money used to finance last month’s deadly Jakarta hotel attacks, Indonesian police said Wednesday.
(…) Analysts have said that if the funding for the attacks came from abroad, a likely source would be Al-Qaeda. But police have not confirmed any connection between the hotel blasts and Saudi-born Osama bin Laden’s organisation.
WSJ adds:
Any new evidence that Mr. Noordin’s group is still able to receive funding from al Qaeda or other foreign groups, if found, is likely to put pressure on Indonesia to do more to monitor the activities of hard-line Islamists that remain out of jail. These people include heads of Jemaah Islamiyah-linked Islamic schools who, although not directly involved in terrorism, have passed on funds and given shelter to known terrorists in the past. Still, the police crackdown has made it much harder for al Qaeda operatives to travel to Indonesia, as was common in the past, and the number of Indonesian militants receiving training on the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan has also dried to a trickle, analysts say.
So the problem will remain. Even if it’s much harder for AQ operatives to travel to Indonesia, there are sufficient Islamist terrorists and recruits there to continue their attacks.
The Jakarta Post has more on these two men:
Investigators said authorities were following leads indicating that the July blasts — believed to have been planned by a violent offshoot of JI led by Noordin — were financed with money wired through Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Police are interrogating the men to determine “if the money used to fund the bombings came from al-Qaeda, which provided funding for previous attacks in Indonesia”, the police officer told AP.
A number of intelligence experts claim the terrorist network is still receiving significant funding from both local and international donors.
“They [donors] keep sending large amounts of money to the country, most of which is unfortunately sent via couriers and thus very difficult to trace and stop,” Mardigu, a terrorist expert, said Monday.
The couriers, he said, entered the country through Dumai and Batam, both regions located within a half hour from Singapore and Malaysia.
Yunus Husein, head of the Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center (PPATK), said his office had detected at least 68 financial transactions between 2004 and 2009 that were allegedly related to terrorist activities. “We have handed over those records to the police.”
Syaefudin Jailani, a key suspect, reportedly received several payments of Rp 1 billion prior to the July 17 bombings from someone in Yemen, through his neighbor’s account.
More about the possible funding from Yemen. Specially important is that detail about police and burqa’d citizens. If that same measure would have been taken in other non-Muslim country, the cries and protests would have been huge.
One has to wonder what will happen if Indonesia discovers some links of this particular attack to foreign citizens. Will that affect in some way his relations with those countries?
Related:
Noordin uses a burqa to avoid police?
Noordin is alive.
Govt will tackle Islamic schools – and track down Noordin.
Noordin Mohammed Top, believed killed.
The JI’s “Jihad on Westerners” using social ties.
Thailand: Southern terrorists could have received training from JI.
Singapore: JI’s terrorist attack on Changi airport foiled.
Jakarta bombings: Malaysia questions 3 JI simpathizers.
Raids on JI terrorists prove existence of Islamist social nets.
3rd bomb in Jakarta bombings malfunctioned.
Malaysia: Noordin Mat Top not in the country.
Jakarta: suicide attacks most likely carried by JI offshoot.
).
Isn’t it a marvellous sea-bathing image?
And this:
So, erhmm, who is at war with who? Can you make it clear for me?
