Noordin Mohammad Top (11 August 1968 – 17 September 2009), of Malaysian citizenship, was a Muslim extremist, also referred to as (Noordin) Din Moch Top, Muh Top, or Mat Top, was Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant. Born in Kluang, Johor, Malaysia, he is thought to have been a key bomb maker and/or financier for Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and to have left JI and set up a more violent splinter group Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad. Noordin was reported by the FBI to be "an explosives expert". The FBI also has reported him to be "an officer, recruiter, bombmaker, and trainer for the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group."
Noordin and Azahari Husin were thought to have masterminded the 2003 JW Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta, the 2004 Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta, the 2005 Bali bombings and the 2009 JW Marriott - Ritz-Carlton bombings, and Noordin may have assisted in the 2002 Bali Bombings.
Noordin, nicknamed "Moneyman", was an indoctrinator who was specialized in recruiting militants into becoming suicide bombers and collecting funds for militant activities.
Having long since been wanted by Malaysian and Indonesian authorities, in 2006, he also became listed on the FBI's third major "wanted" list, the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list.
He was killed during a police raid in Solo, Central Java, on 17 September 2009 conducted by the Indonesian anti-terrorist team, Densus 88.
Read more about Noordin Mohammad Top: Bombings, Fugitive Trail, Death, Wives
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“The necessary has never been man’s top priority. The passionate pursuit of the nonessential and the extravagant is one of the chief traits of human uniqueness. Unlike other forms of life, man’s greatest exertions are made in the pursuit not of necessities but of superfluities.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)