INDONESIAN authorities are interrogating a suspected possible financier of the two Jakarta hotel terrorist bombings after a swoop on a home in the Indonesian city of Makassar uncovered fake identification cards and passports and evidence of a lucrative bank fraud operation.
The raid over the weekend in South Sulawesi came after locals reported to police a suspicious man who frequented a radical mosque and an internet cafe yet did not work and seemed quite well-off.
Residents suspected the man was Noordin Mohamad Top, the fugitive terrorist and alleged mastermind behind the Jakarta attacks that killed nine people, including two suicide bombers.
Noordin's wife has recently been reported saying her husband, who she believed was an Arabic teacher named Ade Abdul Halim, told her he spent a lot of time in South Sulawesi, a province of Indonesia.
The man was not believed to be Noordin, who has evaded a huge manhunt for more than six years, national police spokesman Brigadier General Sulistyo Ishak said yesterday. Rather, he has been identified as another man named as Taufin Haji, alias Mustofa Akbar.
New pictures of Noordin, showing him without the goatee he sports in his FBI mug shot, have been posted across Indonesia as the hunt for the Malaysian-born leader of the "al-Qaeda for the Malay Archipelago" terrorist organisation intensifies.
General Sulistyo said the man believed to be Taufin Haji was being interrogated at police headquarters in Jakarta and remained a person of interest in the investigation into the terrorist cell responsible for the mass murders. He confirmed that police found numerous false IDs, passports and credit cards at his home.
Asked if he said the man had used the credit cards to defraud at least four Indonesian banks of 100 million rupiah ($A12,000), as reported in Koran Tempo newspaper, General Sulistyo said: "We are not that far ahead in the investigation at this stage."
According to The Jakarta Post, the passports showed their holder had travelled to Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
Police have raided the home of Noordin's alleged father-in-law Baharudin in the Central Java district of Cilacap for a second time, confiscating documents, a CD and containers similar to those holding a bomb found buried in the backyard three days before the blasts.
Police are also keen to track down another Noordin associate, Maruto. Maruto's wife, the doctor Tri Utami, is alleged to have treated Noordin for various illnesses, including a long-standing liver ailment. A raid last week on their home found it uninhabited.
Meanwhile, outside the Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott hotels, the two luxury establishments that were bombed, vendors yesterday were hawking fake Manchester United merchandise with a strong anti-terrorist message. T-Shirts, key rings and badges were being sold with the football club's logo and the message "F--- Terrorists."
"We want them to feel the same pain we do — that's why we have very harsh words," said Arif, a vendor.
"I am selling about three dozen a day … I am trying to make back my capital [outlay]." Among those buying the merchandise yesterday were local police.
Manchester United cancelled a game against an Indonesian XI. The cancellation gutted many Indonesians, and left street merchants staring at big losses.
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