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Indonesia’s most wanted terrorist, Noordin M Top, may escape detection by disguising himself as a woman wearing an Islamic burka, a former head of Jemaah Islamiyah said during a book launch on Thursday.

Nasir Abbas, who now assists police with their inquiries, made the comments in East Jakarta during the launch of his third book titled “Memberantas Terorisme, Memburu Noordin M Top” (“Fighting Terrorism and the Hunt for Noordin M Top”).

“Noordin keeps ahead of his pursuer by constantly moving from one place to another,” Nasir said. “He takes advantage of people’s friendly nature, sometimes he wears a veil or a burka and he has married local women.”

Nasir’s books about JI are widely referenced by counterterrorism experts because of his background.

He was one of Noordin M Top’s former instructors at the Hudaibiyah terrorist camp in the Southern Philippines. His sister was married to Mukhlas, one of the Bali bombing masterminds, who was executed last year.

Nowadays Nasir actively assists the Indonesian police in an attempt to persuade his former JI “colleagues” to change their hard-line ways.

“I have expressed my objections and I am not worried about that. Noordin and his followers are not mujahideen [Muslim warriors]. All he has done is give Islam a bad name,” he said, adding that suicide bombers and others killed by the police in raids were also not mujahideen.

Nasir, a Malaysian, said Noordin could be very persuasive. “I have known him since 1996, he has the charisma to convince people to help him and to recruit suicide bombers,” he said.

Asked about who might be funding Noordin, so he could easily survive to hide and run, Nasir said, “I don’t know exactly but he may be get foreign funding.”