One of six cops killed in Simunul attack unarmed

One of the six policemen killed in an ambush at Kampung Sri Jaya, Simunul, in Semporna last year was not armed, nor was he wearing a bulletproof vest, the High Court here was told today.

In fact, Bukit Aman Special Branch (SB) officer ASP Mohamad Hasnal Jamil said his superior, the late Superintendent Ibrahim Lebar, was among SB officers from Bukit Aman, including himself, who were unarmed and did not wear bulletproof vest when they conducted a raid at the village to arrest an individual, known as 'Imam Tua'.



"Do you agree that in the case of the late Superintendent Ibrahim, if he had a firearm and wore a bulletproof vest, his life may have been saved?" asked counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan during cross examination to which the police officer replied: "Yes."

Mohamad Hasnal told the court that there was no instruction for them to be armed and wear bulletproof vests.

He said he was abiding by instructions from his superiors not to be armed in the raid, even after knowing that there were armed intruders in the village.

Sivananthan: Were you not worried or curious that you were being asked to go and do a raid against possible armed intruders and told not to carry a firearm?

Mohamad Hasnal: I was not worried because almost all of the (other) personnel who were involved in the raid were carrying firearms.

Sivananthan: Was there any reason why you were not carrying firearms when you said there were armed intruders at the village?

Mohamad Hasnal: The reason is that we were sent to Sabah for an assignment to gather intelligence information and we were not involved in the arrest operation.

We were only assigned to supply information to the arresting team in order to assist them in carrying out the arrest, he added.

Mohamad Hasnal said the other policemen who were killed in the ambush, ASP Michael Padel, Sergeant Baharin Hamid, Sergeant Abdul Aziz Sakiran, Lance Corporal Mohd Azrul Tukiran and Lance Corporal Salam Togiran were armed during the raid.

Thirty accused, comprising 27 Filipinos and three local residents, are being tried in the case, 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.

They allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10 last year.

The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department continues tomorrow. -Bernama