Whereabouts of terrorist Hambali’s Sabahan wife remains a mystery
Published on: Sunday, January 24, 2021
By: The Star
Kota Kinabalu: The whereabouts of the Sabahan wife of one of the most notorious Southeast Asian terrorists, Hambali @ Riduan Isamuddin, remains a mystery.Noraliza Abdullah @ Lee Yin Len (pic) has not been seen in her coastal village in Sabah’s east coast Beluran district since her release from detention 16 years ago.
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Following the capture of Hambali in 2003, Noraliza was detained by police under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for what is believed to be two years.
After languishing in Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba for 14 years, Hambali and two other Malaysians have finally been charged with the Bali bombings and Jakarta terror attack some 18 years back.
A check with residents in Beluran, about 300km from here, found that they had not seen her since her release, although some claimed she returned briefly to visit her mother Salmah Abdullah, who passed away a few years ago.
Regional intelligence sources said Noraliza is likely to be in Indonesia with relatives of her husband.
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Also missing since Hambali’s arrest in 2003 is Noraliza’s sister Noral Fadilah @ Lee Ah Lin, who was married to another Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader, Abu Yusuf @ Dandang Surman. Noraliza had gone to a religious school called Luqmanul Hakim in Ulu Tiram, Johor, after a group of Indonesian religious teachers came to Beluran and offered to sponsor her studies there.
The school was shut down by Malaysian police after it was found to be involved with JI operatives.
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In an interview with The Star following the arrest of her daughter in 2003, Salmah described Hambali as the “perfect son-in-law” and was shocked to hear of his involvement in terror activities.
Hambali, who was dubbed the “Osama bin Laden of South-East Asia” by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), married Noraliza after they met in Johor.
Salmah described Hambali as a simple, caring and religious son-in-law who liked ketam bakar (baked crabs) during the interview.
“He is the perfect family man. He is incapable of doing wrong, ” Salmah said, adding that Hambali never liked them watching entertainment programmes on television, claiming that such shows corrupted the mind.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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