Noordin traveled around Cikeas ahead of bombings

Terror threats on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono are not just empty talk as Jamaah Islamiyah leader Noordin M. Top traveled around Cikeas, where the head of state’s private residence is located, ahead of the suicide bomb attacks on two major hotels in Jakarta on July 17, 2009, prosecutors say.

Prosecutor Totok Bambang told a hearing on Wednesday the then number one fugitive Noordin, bomb attack operator Saefudin Zuhri and his courier Amir Abdillah drove around Cikeas on June 30, 2009 to identify the targets of the attack, kompas.com reported.

“Saefudin Zuhri was introduced to Noordin M. Top and, together with the defendant, they drove around the area of Cikeas,” Totok read from the prosecutors’ indictment against Amir at the South Jakarta District Court.

During the trip, Noordin asked Saefudin about the safe house to plot the bomb attack, which Amir had rented. Upon orders from Saefudin, Amir had leased a house in Puri Nusapala housing complex in Jatiasih in the West Java town of Bekasi, which is not far from Cikeas.

State prosecutors charged Amir with perpetrating terror attacks, sheltering terror suspects and illegally possessing explosives.

Both Noordin and Saefudin were killed in a series of raids on the terror network launched after the double hotel blasts.

Following the bombings, the police said the terror network also planned to attack the President’s private house.