KOTA KINABALU: A senior Special Branch policeman testified in the High Court here yesterday that he did not know what happened to the other policemen involved in an operation at Kampung Sri Jaya in Simunul, Semporna, after he took cover at a house there.
Assistant Superintendent (ASP) Mohd Aswad Arshad, 32, told Justice Stephen Chung that he did not see where the other policemen went as he and his teammate ASP Azra Nursaffree Ramli ran to take cover inside house number 25 after hearing shootings from a nearby house.
“At that time together with us were two women and a traffic policeman of the Semporna police station took cover inside the same house as shootings were heard from automatic firearms believed from house number 27, which was said to be the house of Imam Tua, the right hand man of Raja Muda Datu Agbimuddin Kiram,” he said under examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar.
The 44th witness who is attached to the Bukit Aman, was tasked in that operation at that village to trace signal of Imam Tua’s cellphone on March 2, 2013.
He also said that the shootings lasted about 15 minutes and they did not go out even though no more shootings were heard.
“I managed to contact Bukit Aman to inform them our current situation and at that time I still can hear single gunshots fired repeatedly but not from the same house where gunshots were heard earlier,” he testified.
To a question by Mohd Dusuki, he also testified that he was assigned to trace signal from other handphones of persons allegedly related to the Sulu gunmen, namely Salip Akhmad Emali and Julham.
“Both the accused persons were arrested after my team and I managed to track them down,” he explained.
Mohd Aswad was giving his oral evidence against 29 men and a woman, including the nephew of the late self-styled Sulu sultan III, Datu Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, who were alleged to have committed terrorism activities at several places in Lahad Datu, Semporna, Kunak and Sandakan areas between February 12 and April 10, 2013.
If found guilty they face the mandatory death sentence while the rest provide for life imprisonment and a fine, upon conviction.
During the hearing on Wednesday, a Special Branch policeman told the High Court that he was informed that the sea area was guarded by the marine personnel while they were at Kampung Sri Jaya in Simunul, Semporna, to track down Imam Tua on March 2, 2013.
Assistant Superintendent Mohd Hasnal Jamil testified before Justice Stephen Chung that he knew it was his boss, the late Superintendent Ibrahim Lebar, had told him so.
Under cross-examination by counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan, the witness however said that he had no knowledge about the strength of the marine team who was tasked to guard the sea area.
To a suggestion by Sivananthan, he agreed that within the two hours of their ambush operation before the shootouts between Malaysian security forces and alleged Sulu gunmen commenced, there was plenty time for anyone to escape from Kampung Sri Jaya in Simunul.
To a question by the counsel, Mohd Hasnal explained that there was no officer from the marine team seen attending their briefing on March 2, 2013 at 1.30pm several hours before they entered Kampung Sri Jaya.
He also said in his testimony that after 22 hours of taking cover at house number 19 at Kampung Sri Jaya and then rescued by VAT 69 commandos, he did not see any personnel or boats from the marine came to rescue them.
The trial held at a hall doubled as an open court at Kepayan prisons here under tight security checks by the prison and police personnel, continues today.