UTK officer denies knowing woman accused related to Kiram family, court hears

0

KOTA KINABALU: A Bukit Aman Special Action Unit (UTK) officer was not informed that the sole woman accused in the Lahad Datu intrusion trial was related to the Kiram family by marriage, the High Court here heard yesterday.

During cross-examination, Inspector Radin Ramlan Radin Taha, who led an ambush team maintained that he was instructed to arrest Norhaida Ibnahi and another accused, Datu Amir Bahar Hushin Kiram at Kampung Sri Melor in Bugaya, Semporna on March 22, 2013.

“I put it to you that at the briefing by (operations commander) ACP Hazani Ghazali (on March 21, 2013 about 11pm), you were told that both Datu Amir Bahar and Norhaida were sought simply because they were part of the Kiram family,” said counsel Datuk N Sivananthan, to which the witness disagreed. Radin Ramlan, the prosecution’s 62nd witness was testifying in the trial of 30 accused persons charged with various offences in connection with the intrusion by Sulu militants, led by Datu Agbimuddin Kiram at Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu.

The UTK officer, whose team raided four houses in Sector C of the village and detained nine people, disagreed with Sivananthan that the operation he and his team conducted was an exercise to check whether the occupants had proper personal documentation.

Sivananthan: Do you agree with me that you were not shown any particular house when you arrived at Kampung Sri Melor to conduct an ambush on Datu Amir Bahar or Norhaida?

Radin Ramlan: I agree.

Sivananthan: Is that why you and your team conducted a search on all four houses in your sector?

Radin Ramlan: Yes.

Earlier, the witness identified six handphones he seized from Norhaida when she was arrested, in which two of the handphones — a black Motorola and a Nokia model 3350 — had no batteries.

In the dock are 27 Filipinos and three local residents who are facing one to multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group, waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or wilfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.

They allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10, 2013. The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung continues today at the Sabah Prisons Department. — Bernama