Cop cannot determine Lahad Datu intrusion exhibits after forensic analysis

From the Borneo Post Online (Dec 10): Cop cannot determine Lahad Datu intrusion exhibits after forensic analysis

KOTA KINABALU: A police officer could not determine whether digital exhibits on the Lahad Datu intrusion he had collected from CyberSecurity Malaysia were the same ones which had been sent there for forensic analysis, the High Court here heard yesterday.

Former Semporna investigating officer Insp Mohamad Ali Yusran Osman said this was because the exhibits he collected were re-packed after analysis.

“The exhibits that I received were packed and sealed by CyberSecurity Malaysia and the plastic packages were all in dark colour,” he said at the trial of 30 individuals linked to the intrusion by Sulu gunmen at Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu in February 2013.

Mohamad Ali Yusran, who is now attached to the Klang Utara police headquarters in Selangor, said he was instructed by Semporna CID chief, DSP Zairolnizal Ishak to collect the digital exhibits from CyberSecurity Malaysia on three occasions in 2013 — April 24, July 17 and Sept 10.

To a question by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed, he said he did not take the opportunity to look at the exhibits inside the packages he received from CyberSecurity Malaysia as they had been analysed and packed by the digital agency. Instead, he added that he handed all the exhibits to Zairolnizal upon returning to Semporna.

Mohamad Ali Yusran said he had also been involved in the investigation of an accused, Norhaida Ibnahi, who was arrested in an ambush at Kampung Sri Melor in Semporna on March 22, 2013, for an alleged immigration offence.

“Norhaida was released from the investigation under Section 6 (1) (c) of the Immigration Act after police obtained confirmation from the National Registration Department that her MyPR card was valid,” he said, adding however that upon her release, she was re-arrested under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA).

Meanwhile, Chief Assistant Director of D13 of the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (Royal Malaysian Police Forensic Laboratory) ACP Hussien Omar Khan said he had overlooked a memory card during the insepction of digital exhibits before handing them to CyberSecurity Malaysia for analysis.

He said there were actually six memory cards instead of five he received from one Inspector Mohd Faiz Che Mamat on April 4, 2013, along with nine handphones, seven handphone batteries and six SIM cards in connection with a police report lodged in Kunak.

To a question by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Jamil Aripin, the senior officer said did not know how the sixth memory card was discovered when Fauzi Mohd Darus of CyberSecurity Malaysia inspected the exhibits.

In the dock are 27 Filipinos and three local residents who are facing one to multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. They are also alleged to have recruited members for a terrorist group or willfully harboured individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group. The offences were allegedly committed between Feb 12 and April 10, 2013.

The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prison Department continues today.

http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/12/10/cop-cannot-determine-lahad-datu-intrusion-exhibits-after-forensic-analysis/