VAT69 team leader suggested surveillance of skirmish area, court told
Published on: Tuesday, September 23, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: A leader of a group of VAT69 commandos suggested an aerial surveillance of a skirmish area at a water village in Simunul, Semporna where several policemen were trapped in March last year, the High Court here was told Monday.ASP Shaiful Azmi Omar made the suggestion to better plan an operation to rescue the policemen who were trapped in Kampung Sri Jaya, Simunul while carrying out a raid to arrest a suspect linked to the Lahad Datu intrusion on March 2.He said DSP Hisham Mahmood from the Bukit Aman Special Action Unit (Unit Tindakan Khas), who was appointed to lead the rescue operation, went with Semporna police volunteer, Constable Thanyman Antonysamy on a helicopter to conduct the aerial surveillance of the village.
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"About 11.30am, Hisham gave a briefing on the rescue operation to all VAT69 personnel and we were told the operation would begin at 2pm that day," he said.Shaiful Azmi said he, Hisham, Thanyman and another VAT69 team leader, ASP Andrew Gani Ak Jimmy, together with 49 VAT69 personnel arrived at an open area near Kampung Sri Jaya about 2pm, where they joined forces with a support team consisting personnel from Battalion 14 of the General Operations Force and Battalion 22 of the Royal Malaysian Army Regiment."At 2.15pm, Hisham instructed my team and I, and Gani's team to begin the rescue operation whereby, my team began with a (house-to-house) 'flushing' exercise (to ensure there were no armed intruders who could jeopardise the rescue team's safety whilst searching for their fellow policemen) at the first house, and after that, Gani's team 'flushed' the second house," he added.Earlier, Gani said that of all the weapons and firearms seized during the rescue operation at Kampung Sri Jaya, only two were incriminating.
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Asked by counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan what the two weapons were, the VAT69 commando replied they were an M-16 rifle which bore the words, 'Made in the Philippines' and an axe.He also said he saw seven bodies during the rescue operation, of which five were those of policemen.
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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 wilfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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