Five Police Officers Testify as Prosecution Witnesses at Altantuya Trial
12 July 2007
Shah Alam
Constable Azura Azwa Abdul Kadir, aged 24, and Corporal Leena anak Asing, 32, were the next witnesses to testify on the 17th day of the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial yesterday. The policewomen are attached to the Petaling Jaya anti-vice, gaming and secret society division (D7) and colleagues of Lance Corporal Rohaniza Roslan, the prosecution witness who is facing allegations of committing perjury and was the girlfriend of first accused Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri.
Roslan testified last week that Azilah had told her that he did not know what had happened to Altantuya. Roslan then went to check with the Jalan Travers and Brickfields police stations for any recent reports of rape or abduction lodged by foreigners between 19 and 20 October 2006.
Azura said she was on duty on 31 October 2006 when Roslan asked her which police station was busier and she replied “Brickfields”.
Leena was on duty on the same day and she overhead Roslan making a call to the Brickfields station at 2:30pm. Roslan was heard asking if there was any report lodged on a missing person, sudden death or discovery of a body in the Brickfields area.
The 14th prosecution witness, arresting officer Deputy Superintendent Lim Meng Seah, told the court that Abdul Razak Baginda’s staff served his team of seven officers drinks and refreshments when they went to his office to arrest him on 7 November 2006 at 9:55am. They seized two mobile phones from him and the visitor registration book in the building lobby that day.
They were also served refreshments two days later at the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre office in the Lembaga Getah Asli Malaysia building along Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, when they seized Abdul Razak’s laptop and five sheets of paper. Lim could not recall the contents of the papers, but they were kept in a Hotel Malaya envelope.
Lim denied that his team from the D9 serious crimes division were served food when they went to Abdul Razak’s Damasara Heights house on 9 November 2007, as put forth by Abdul Razak’s counsel Wong Kian Kheong. They went there to retrieve a second laptop and Abdul Razak’s international passport. The laptop could not be found.
He said Abdul Razak did not resist arrest and cooperated fully with the authorities.
Abdul Razak’s wife Mazlinda Makhzan surrendered the second laptop to Lim at 11pm on the same day. Lim handed all the seized items to Asst Comm Tonny Lunggan, another investigating officer.
DSP M.V. Sri Kumar, aged 41, said that throughout his service, he had never instructed Azilah to perform detonations because Azilah did not have any specialised training on handling explosives. Testifying as the 15th prosecution witness, he also said that Azhar was not trained in advanced explosives as well.
Sri Kumar explained that each operative had to record the amount of explosives taken out from the armoury and the remaining amount, if any, returned. He said he was sure that there was no missing explosives during training and operations under him, but he could not say the same for those under superior officers.
Constable Fatimah Abd Wahap, aged 30, of the Special Action Force (UTK) was the next witness in the High Court to stand trial. She confirmed that accused Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar had been issued a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun and 60 bullets for 26 days from 4 October last year. Two empty magazines were also issued to him.
The corporal had produced a letter of approval signed by a senior officer and stated that it was for a “special assignment”. Fatimah could not recall the officer who signed it.
Azhar returned the gun on 30 October 2006, ten days after Altantuya had gone missing. Fatimah counted every bullet in the presence of Azhar when he returned all of them at the UTK armoury. She did admit that she was “being careless” for not recording in the entry book the number of bullets that Azhar had taken out and returned.
Fatimah admitted that there were many entries in the book which did not record the number of bullets and magazines that operatives took out and back. She said she was also not aware that the bullets were coded green colour for training purposes and red colour for actual missions.
The Star Online – No proper records of arms and bullets taken from armoury
<URL:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/12/nation/18283418&sec=nation>
The Star Online – Breakfast for arresting team
<URL:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/12/nation/18283352&sec=nation>
The Star Online – ‘Sirul issued with submachine gun’
<URL:http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/12/nation/18282755&sec=nation>
New Straits Times – Altantuya Murder Trial: Azilah was never instructed to perform detonations, says witness
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Frontpage/20070712140146/Article/index_html>
New Straits Times – Altantuya Murder Trial: ‘Sirul had letter for gun, bullets’
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Frontpage/20070712073025/Article/index_html>
New Straits Times – Altantuya Murder Trial: 2 policewomen give testimony
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Frontpage/20070712072830/Article/index_html>
New Straits Times – Altantuya Murder Trial: Altantuya’s note: ‘You love money or your life…’
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Frontpage/20070712072630/Article/index_html>
MCW – Corporal Azhar’s Confession Rejected as Evidence
<URL:http://malaysiacrimewatch.lokety.com/corporal-azhars-confession-rejected-as/>
Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, shah alam, murder, trial, death, altantuya, shaariibuu, altantuya shaariibuu, sirul azhar umar, azilah hadri, abdul razak baginda, baginda, azura azwa abdul kadir, leena anak asing, rohaniza roslan, lim meng seah, malaysian strategic research centre, lembaga getah asli malaysia, sri kumar, fatimah abd wahap, special action force, heckler & koch, mp5, submachine gun
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