KOTA KINABALU: A team leader from the Fourth Regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps gunned down an armed intruder in Lahad Datu last year, after twice firing warning shots, the High Court here was told yesterday.
Recalling the incident on March 6, Major Mohd Nasir Aziz said he was carrying out a clean-up operation to rid armed intruders from Kampung Tanjung Batu when he spotted an armed intruder in the verandah of a house.
The intruder was firing shots in the direction of Mohd Nasir, who was in an armoured personnel carrier (APC), together with a group of VAT69 commandos entering the village from Kampung Tanjung Labian.
“Upon arriving at Kampung Tanjung Batu, after all the VAT69 men had alighted from the vehicle and took their positions on the ground, I moved about 100 metres in front.
“I fired the first round of ammunition from the APC to the ground underneath the house. Nevertheless, the intruder was undeterred,” said Mohd Nasir.
He said he then fired the second round of ammunition at the wall of the house and the man stood up and seemed like he was searching for something.
“I fired the third round of ammunition when he began shooting in my direction. After the third round of shots, I saw the man collapse on the ground,” he said.
Asked by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar what he did after the man had collapsed, Mohd Nasir said he continued with the clean-up operation and moved another 100 metres in front, while waiting for the VAT69 personnel on the ground to take their positions parallel to the APC vehicle he was in.
To a question on why he did not do anything to the intruder who collapsed, Mohd Nasir replied: “Because the situation was still not safe and at the same time, we had a team of VAT69 men (on the ground) and to ensure their safety, I moved in front.”
Mohd Nasir said the body of the intruder was left at the house even after he (Mohd Nasir) had completed the operation in Kampung Tanjung Batu about 5.30pm that day.
However, he told the court that he was certain the body had been collected by VAT69 commando Superintendant Abdul Rani Alias on March 20, last year.
Thirty accused, comprising 27 Filipinos and three local residents, are being tried in the case, in which some are facing multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or willfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.
They allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10 last year.
The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department continues today. — Bernama