KUCHING: The Ministry of Home Affairs has opened up an enquiry paper for every lost item in the custody of the police to make sure that every lost item especially missing guns are accounted for.
The response from the ministry came after Auditor-General’s 2012 Report revealed that 309 units of police assets worth RM1.33 million, including 44 units of firearms and 29 units of vehicles went missing.
Speaking to The Borneo Post yesterday, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaldi Tuanku Jaafar urged the public not to presume that the missing items disappeared in one single incident as the missing items were lost over a period of time and at various parts of the nation.
“In fact, it happened over a long period of several years.
“The police have opened up an enquiry paper for each and every lost item. Only after each and every of the enquiry paper is completed will we know what happened to each and every loss,” he told The Borneo Post.
He said certain loss might have been due to the result of a boat capsize during operation or transportation or might be due to unavoidable loss.
“I am certain that each and every loss was reported and investigated,” said the Santubong MP who is now attending parliamentary sitting and has sent his comments through short messaging system.
He said, he was informed that by the time the loss was uncovered by the officers of AG, explanations had been made by the police.
However, the explanations came a little too late to be included in the report.
“Otherwise, the losses might not be even included in the AG Report,” said Wan Junaldi, adding that he had requested a full report on the losses from Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.
Earlier, in response to the issue of missing guns and other assets, Khalid had claimed that “the missing guns may have fallen into the sea.”
He said so far, out of the missing 37 guns, none had fallen into the wrong hands as ballistic reports showed that none of them were linked with criminal activities.
“The missing guns may not have fallen into the hands of criminals but could have fallen into the sea from boats…and the weapons could not be recovered,” Khalid was quoted saying this at a press conference two days ago.