VAT69 Snipers Ordered Not To Shoot First
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- Published on Thursday, 09 January 2014 21:58
Highly trained snipers from the VAT69 unit were told to hold/Google ImagesKOTA KINABALU: VAT69 sniper teams who carried out a close reconnaissance operation at Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu on March 1 last year were given a directive not to fire shots at the Sulu terrorists if they were spotted.
Superintendent Mancha Anak Laga of the General Operations Force's (GOF) VAT69 Commando said the directive was given by Operations Tactical Commander Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun at a briefing that morning before Mancha and his team as well as the other four teams entered the village to carry out the operation.
"We were not allowed to attack or fire shots at the armed intruders (if spotted) unless we were attacked or shot at first by the intruders," he told the High Court, which convened at the Sabah Prisons Department, here today.
Mancha was testifying in the trial of 30 people charged with various offences related to terrorism activities in Sabah last year.
"Target acquired. 700 metres, over"/Google ImagesWhen asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Abdul Wahab Mohamed in what position were the group of 35-40 terrorists when they shouted at the sniper team (in Malay), "Tiger! Get out of here. This is our land!" before the skirmish erupted that day, Mancha said, "scattered, but close to one another."
Twenty-two of the 30 individuals jointly being tried, including two Malaysian men, are charged with waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment, and being members of a terrorist group, punishable with life imprisonment and a fine upon conviction.
Of the 22, one faces two additional charges of recruiting members of a terrorist group and harbouring persons knowing that they were members of a terrorist group.
Of the remaining eight, five are accused of being members of a terrorist group; one of them, the sole woman of the 30 and a Malaysian citizen, is charged with harbouring persons knowing they were members of a terrorist group, while two are charged with attempting to harbour persons knowing they were members of a terrorist group.
The rest are Philippine nationals. They are all accused of committing the respective offences between Feb 12 and April 10, last year.
The hearing, before Justice Stephen Chung, continues tomorrow. -- BERNAMA
KOTA KINABALU: AUXILIARY policeman Mohd Ali Asmadi spotted more than 100 men clad in camouflage fatigues around a surau in Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, more than two weeks before security forces clashed with armed militants there last year.
KOTA KINABALU: AUXILIARY policeman Mohd Ali Asmadi spotted more than 100 men clad in camouflage fatigues around a surau in Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, more than two weeks before security forces clashed with armed militants there last year.
Ali, 40, was on his way back to the village from a fishing trip with friend Shaharizan Shardik when he spotted the suspicious-looking group at 7am on Feb 12.
"They were 100m away from the boat," he told High Court judge Stephen Chung Hian Guan. He said the men were scattered all over the surau, a nearby road and the beach.
The second prosecution witness was testifying yesterday during examination-in-chief by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail on the third day of hearing involving 30 people, including a woman, facing various offences related to the Lahad Datu incursion on March 1.
Ali, who was attached to Embara Budi at Felda Sahabat, Lahad Datu, said after they pulled ashore at a river mouth near the surau, he noticed the men were in the midst of discussing something.
Gani: What was the distance between you and these men?
Ali: Between 15 and 20m.
Gani: Can you describe their camouflage uniforms?
Ali: Faded yellow camouflage uniforms.
Gani: These uniforms are usually worn by who?
Ali: I have never seen these uniforms worn by the Malaysian armed forces.
He said after he and Shaharizan saw them, they remained on the beach and did not walk to the spot where he had parked his motorcycle in the village.
Gani: Why did you not want to meet them?
Ali: After we realised they did not belong to the armed forces, we became suspicious and were afraid.
He said they reached that conclusion based on their clothing, their red armbands and headbands, and some of them also had a haj serban.
He said the men did not make any attempt to communicate with them but looked in their general direction before leaving the area.
"They were heading in the direction of Kampung Tanduo." Ali said he and his friend noticed many shoe imprints on the dirt road near the surau while they went to get their motorcycle.
He said they returned to their houses at Embara Budi to drop off the fish they had caught before heading for the Cenderawasih police station around 10am.
During cross-examination by counsel Ram Singh, he said they lodged a police report at 4.30pm that day, because he was asked by a policeman at the station to give a briefing of what they had seen to Lahad Datu police chief Superintendent Samsudin Mat.
The 30 accused were charged last year with various offences related to the Kampung Tanduo incursion near Lahad Datu on March 1, and the Simunul attack in Semporna the next day. Twenty-two of them were charged with waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and being members of a terrorist group.
Jamalul Kiram III's nephew, Datu Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, was among those charged.
The others were charged with harbouring a group of terrorists and recruiting for the group.
Counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan represented 27 of the accused while counsel Abdul Gani Zelika, Rowiena Rashid and Ram acted for Abdul Hadi Mawan, Pabblo Alie and Mohamad Ali Ahmad respectively.
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