Candra Malik

Noordin M Top’s Terror Hideout Being Rebuilt

After lying abandoned for nearly a month, renovation of the house in Kepuhsari, Solo, where terror suspect Noordin M Top was killed in a Sept. 17 raid began on Monday under heavy police security.

“The renovation can go on without having to remove the corrugated tin fence,” Jebres Police Chief Adj. Comr. Dwi Retnowati said, referring to the barrier around the house owned by Sri Indarto. “Construction workers can still come in and out of the house,” she said.

The house was riddled with bullet holes and window panes were shattered, with the roof going up in flames after special counterterrorism unit Densus 88 blew up the gas tank of a motorcycle kept inside the house.

“The district police is in no way involved in financing [the renovation]. Our job is merely to guard the crime scene so it will go according to plan,” Sr. Comr. Ery Subagyo, chief of the Surakarta Police, told the Jakarta Globe.

He said Mega Daya Abadi, a National Police-appointed company, had paid Rp 47 million ($4,982) for damages to the house’s owner, Sri Indarto. Neighbor Yuli Utami received Rp 25 million in damages, and Mijan Siswo Wijoyo, another neighbor, got Rp 10 million.

Sri Indarto was seen supervising the four construction workers involved in the renovation. Before patching the holes in the wall, they cleared the debris from fallen roof and wall.

But despite the care being put into rebuilding efforts, the house’s future was uncertain.

“I hope the National Police will return the house to its initial condition, but our family has no intention of living there anymore. We don’t know whether to sell or lease the house afterward,” Sri Indarto said.

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