Targets for communication interception obtained from Sabah SB, court told

KOTA KINABALU: Two federal special branch (SB) officers based in Sabah provided information on individuals linked to the Lahad Datu intrusion in February last year, to enable a communication interception.
SB officer Supt Anuar Ahmad, who conducted the interception said he received information on 11 individuals targeted for the communication interception from then Sabah SB deputy chief, SAC Zulkifli Abd Aziz and the late ASP Michael Padel, who was Semporna SB chief.
Anuar, 57, who was the prosecution's 49th witness, was testifying in the high court here today, at the trial of 30 accused charged with various offences in connection with the Lahad Datu intrusion.
The accused comprised 27 Filipinos and three local residents, in which some are facing multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or willfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group, allegedly committed between Feb 12 and April 10 last year.
On Feb 12, last year, Anuar obtained information from Zulkifli that one Al Wazir Osman alias Abdul, was believed to have been using a telephone number.
He told the court that on Feb 14 last year, Zulkifli informed him of another individual known as Datu Agbimuddin Kiram, who had two telephone numbers.
Anuar said he was supplied with the names of six more individuals to be targeted in the communication interception - one from Zulkifli and the rest from the late Padel. He said the individuals' names supplied by Padel were Salib Akhmad Emali (with one telephone number); Anwar Salib Akhmad (one number), Julham Rashid (two numbers), Tani Lahaddahi alias Panglima Tani (two numbers) and Abdul Hadi Mawan (one number), while Zulkifli supplied him with five telephone numbers believed to be used by one Datu Amir Bahar alias Datu Bahang.
He told the court Padel supplied him with the names of three more individuals on Feb 18 last year (Basil Samuil) and on Feb 28 last year (Abdul Majil Jubin and Norhaida Ibnahi), each using one telephone number.
Upon receiving information on the individuals on the respective dates, Anuar said he informed his superior, SAC Yusoff Mohd Amin to apply for consent from the attorney-general's chambers for the communication interception be carried out on the targets.
He said Yusoff informed him that consent was granted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria on all the requests, which he (Anuar) then informed ASP Mohd Fuzairi, the officer-in-charge of the Bukit Aman SB Technical Unit, to commence with the communication interception.
The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department will resume on Nov 10. – Bernama