The hunt for Noordin M. Top in East Java.

The first reports of something major on the anti-terror front happening in the Mojokerto area of East Java came on 1st August. Some local people had noticed a number of unfamiliar men, who spoke Malay, wandering about near the Welirang mountain in Gondang regency. It appears the men were scavenging, stealing food and supplies from local people.

One local man suspected that one of the six was Noordin Mohammed Top, the most wanted man in Indonesia (see here for more), and therefore he contacted the police, twice, and asked to see a photo of Top. Since that time the anti-terror squad, Detachment 88, assisted by units of the regular police and the military, have been attempting to track down the men.

Some success may have been met with. Wednesday, 2nd August, one man was captured near the town of Pacet, Mojokerto, a man believed to be a part of Noordin’s group. Detik says the man’s name is Hariyono, born in 1965. Bearded, and speaking with Malay dialect, Hariyono was said to be in possession of books on Islam, when captured.

Meanwhile Alert Net informs us that it may be that time of the year in Indonesia, pointing out this pattern in terror attacks over the last four years:

• Oct. 12, 2002 – Blasts on the tourist island of Bali kill 202 people, many of them foreign tourists, including 88 Australians.
• Aug. 5, 2003 – A bomb outside the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta kills 12 people, including a Dutchman, and wounds 150.
• Sept. 9, 2004 – A powerful bomb explodes near the Australian embassy in central Jakarta killing 10 Indonesians and wounding more than 100.
• Oct. 2, 2005 – Suicide bombers set off three blasts on the resort island of Bali which killed 23 people, including the three bombers and some foreign tourists. More than 100 people were wounded.

Update

The man who was arrested, whose name is Hartono, not Hariyono, turns out to have been a mental patient, not a fearsome terrorist. He has been returned to his family, says East Java police boss Widjaya Purba.

Overall, the three day long hunt, involving 550 military personnel, has brought no positive result. One military commander, Major General Syamsul Mapareppa is now claiming that his men have only been on a training exercise. Another military man, Colonel Sentot Maksum, disagrees however:

The people reported were said to be Noordin M. Top’s group.
(Yang dilaporkan masyarakat katanya kelompok Noordin M. Top.)

And East Java based journalist I.D Nugroho reports that the operation has now ceased. He spoke to a local man, Radi, who acted as a guide for the security forces and this Radi claimed that the soldiers searched in various parts of the forest but not in the part where local people had been accustomed, for the last month, of coming across the “mysterious men” thought to be Noordin M. Top’s group. Radi said:

When I asked them about that [going into that part of the forest], they refused.
(Waktu saya menanyakan hal itu, pasukan itu menolak.)