Police bomb squad unit arrived at the courthouse after a bomb threat was received.
Male caller tells police bomb placed in dustbin at courthouse
KOTA KINABALU: The opening session of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into illegal immigrant issues in Sabah yesterday was abruptly halted after police evacuated the courthouse complex following a bomb threat.
Commission chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Steve Shim Lip Kiong called for unscheduled break at 2.42pm, citing “emergency situation”, after secretary Dato’ Saripuddin Kasim informed him about the evacuation order.
Court guards immediately ushered commission members, witnesses and members of the public out of the courthouse, reminding them to stay calm and exit the premises in an orderly manner.
A police bomb squad’s vehicle arrived at the scene shortly after, as an officer told the crowd still gathered in front the courthouse to move further away to a safer distance.
Members of the public, including judgers, lawyers and media standing under the rain outside the courthouse after a bomb threat was received around 2.30pm yesterday.
The team swept the building for any possible explosive but did not find any.
City police chief ACP Jauteh Dikun said police were investigating a male caller who alerted police of a bomb at the courthouse about 2.30pm.
“Police immediately responded to the information and deployed our bomb unit and K9 dog unit to investigate for any sign of a bomb threat,” he said when met at the scene.
According to Jauteh, police investigation revealed that the caller spoke in Bahasa Melayu.
“The caller claimed there is a bomb wrapped in a black plastic bag and placed in a dustbin.
“Police however did not find any bomb in the courthouse and the surrounding area after about two hours of combing the area,” he said.
“It is just a prank call and police believe the caller’s intention was to disturb today’s proceeding,” he said, adding that apart from the RCI, there were also other proceedings in session.
Jauteh said police were still carrying out investigation to identify the caller and the case would be investigated under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code.
Anyone found guilty of the offence could face a jail term of up to two years or a fine, or both, he said.
About 100 people, including judges, lawyers, court staff, the public and media were seen standing in the rain outside the courthouse as police bomb squad searched for any sign of bomb threats.
They were only allowed to enter the building around 5pm to clear their belongings.
Earlier, Shim read out the terms of reference of the inquiry which was to enquire, among others, the number of immigrants in Sabah who had received blue identification cards (IC) or citizenship, whether the issuance of the ICs or citizenship was in accordance with the law, whether the immigrants who held the blue ICs, temporary identification receipt (blue) citizenship illegally had been registered as voters, and the reasons for the increase in Sabah’s population.
The other four RCI members are Universiti Malaysia Sabah former vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon, Kuala Lumpur former police chief Datuk Henry Chin Poy Wu, former state secretary Datuk KY Mustafa, and former deputy chief minister and former state attorney-general Tan Sri Herman J.Luping.
The RCI proceeding will resume today at 9am.