•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

The National Police on Tuesday released the name of a second person wanted in connection with the funding for last month’s Jakarta hotel bombings.

The man was identified as Muhammad Jibriel Abdul Rahman, also known as Muhammad Ricky Ardan, the son of Abu Jibriel, who himself has fallen foul of the law for alleged terrorism.

“The suspect is believed to have channeled funds from abroad for the hotel bombings,” spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna told a press conference on Tuesday .

Police formally named Saudi national Ali Mohammad Abdillah as a suspect on Monday for helping to finance the attacks.

A senior National Police counterterrorism source told the Jakarta Globe that funds for the bombings were believed to have been brought into Indonesia from the Middle East in June.

According to the source Jibriel’s father, Abu Jibriel, is an Indonesian citizen who was arrested in Malaysia in 2001 during a crackdown on Islamic militants. He was released from the Malaysian prison in 2004 and returned to Indonesia, but Jakarta failed to produce evidence to implicate him in terroris t activities.

Nanan said the younger Jibriel’s identification documents contain two different birth dates.

“The first document says he was born on Dec. 3, 1979, in Banjarmasin. The second says his birthday was May 28, 1989, in East Lombok,” he said. “He also still holds a valid passport number, S335026.”

The fugitive’s last address was in Petukangan Selatan, South Jakarta.

Jibriel is the founder and owner of an Islamic Web site, Arrahmah.com, which runs articles on jihad and conflict in the Middle East.

In a phone interview aired by TV One shortly after the police announcement on Tuesday, Jibriel denied any wrongdoing and any link to the Saudi detainee.

But he said that he knew Noordin M Top — a Malaysian alleged to be the mastermind of a string of recent terrorist attacks in the country — and had met him in Malaysia in the past.

Jibriel is the sixth target in the police manhunt for suspects in the July 17 twin suicide bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta.

Police could not be reached later on Tuesday to confirm a report by Detikcom online news portal saying Jibriel had already been arrested earlier in the day.

Other suspects include Syaifudin Zuhri bin Djaelani Irsyad, also called Udin or Soleh, and his brother Mohamad Syahrir, alias Aing.

Zuhri, whose age is unknown and who had been living in Bogor, is believed to have recruited 18-year-old Dani Dwi Permana and Nana Ichwan Maulana, 28, who blew themselves up inside the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, respectively, on July 17, killing seven people.

Police said Syahrir, 41, who was living in Tangerang, Banten, helped recruit the bombers and also sheltered Ibrahim, alias Boim, a florist at the Ritz-Carlton who investigators say was the “field operator” for the attacks.

Ibrahim went missing after the blasts and was later killed in a counterterrorism police raid in Temanggung, Central Java, on Aug. 8.

The third suspect, Bagus Budi Pranoto, 30, alias Urwah, from Kudus, Central Java, has served 42 months in prison for helping to shelter Noordin.

The fourth suspect was identified as Ario Sudarso, 36, who has multiple aliases and was known to have recently lived in both East Jakarta and Kendal, Central Java.

Ario is believed to be friends with Saefuddin Zuchry, a terror suspect arrested in Cilacap, Central Java, in June for allegedly providing bomb-making materials to a terrorist cell in Palembang, South Sumatra, as well as for the July 17 bombings.

Police have been hunting for Noordin for the past 7 years.