KOTA KINABALU: A senior police officer testified in the High Court here yesterday that an accused, facing a charge of being a member of the Sulu gunmen, whom he arrested, was allegedly a guerrilla trained combatant.
ASP Mohamad Zaiful Zahari, 32, who was testifying before Justice Stephen Chung, said that the accused Aiman Radie, whom he had arrested, had allegedly been trained with that warfare tactic to minimize his movements and footprints from being tracked.
He explained this in response to a question when under examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mad Yusoff as the witness was referred to several photos showing the attires worn by the accused when he was arrested.
Ishak asked: “When you (the witness) apprehended the accused on March 2, 2013, the accused was wearing jeans, a camouflage cap and civilian shirt with the accused’s sling bag containing perfumes and toiletries, can you explain why?”
The witness answered: “The accused was trained to change his clothing so it would be easy for him to escape.”
The witness, who is the Police Enforcement Assistant for Battalion 16, General Operation Force Company C based in Kudat, was the 59th person called by the prosecution to give his evidence against the 29 men and a woman who were charged with committing terrorism activities.
Aiman, including Datu Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, a nephew of the late self-styled Sulu Sultan III, together with the other 28 persons were arrested at several places in Lahad Datu, Semporna, Kunak and Sandakan between February 12 and April 10, 2013.
To another question by Ishak, the witness also testified that the accused had minimized his movements and footprints from being tracked by walking alone when he was arrested near a beach area the next day after the skirmish between the Sulu gunmen and Malaysian VAT 69 commandos at Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu.
The witness said that as a platoon member, he had been trained with guerilla warfare tactic which included camouflage or infiltration.
“The enemies would start to do camouflage and throw away equipment that could lead to their identities and that is one of the guerilla tactics for the enemies to escape,” the witness further testified.
Meanwhile, under cross examination, the witness disagreed to a question asked by Philippines-government assigned counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan that he is a guerilla warfare expert but agreed that he is a senior police officer.
The trial, held at a hall doubled as an open court at Kepayan prisons under tight security checks by the police and prison personnel, resumes today.