KOTA KINABALU: Police found charred remains of eight people, believed to be from a bomb incident near Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu, the High Court here was told yesterday.
Investigating officer in the case, ASP Vernon Sinclair said Supt Sheikh Abdul Adziz handed over eight black plastic
bags containing the remains to him.
He said the bags, each marked by a number between 25 and 32, were handed over to him at the Cenderwasih police station in Lahad Datu on the evening of March 22, 2013.
“Supt Sheikh Abdul Adziz told me that he received the corpses from a VAT69 officer DSP Abdul Rani Alias who said they were found at Tanjung Batu,” he said.
Sinclair was testifying in the trial of 30 individuals linked to the intrusion by Sulu gunmen at Kampung Tanduo in February 2013.
To deputy public prosecutor Jamil Aripin’s question whether his bomb theory was supported by analysis, the witness replied, ‘No’.
Sinclair said he also received a gunny sack marked ‘24’, containing human bones from Abdul Rani on March 21, 2013.
He said the VAT69 officer informed him that the bones were discovered in a house that had been destroyed by fire at Tanjung Batu.
He said he could not determine how many bodies the bones represented, but that there was a skull in the sack.
Sinclair told the court that the charred remains and sack of human bones were sent to Lahad Datu Hospital.
He said he was never informed of any post mortem nor the identities of the human remains.
In the dock are 27 Filipinos and three local residents who are facing one to multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
They are also alleged to have recruited members for a terrorist group or wilfully harboured individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.
The offences were allegedly committed between Feb 12 and April 10, 2013.
The hearing, before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department, continues on May 25. — Bernama