Accused confessed to being involved with Sulu armed intruders

The High Court here today heard that some of the accused persons in the Lahad Datu intrusion trial confessed to being involved with a group of Sulu gunmen who intruded into Kampung Tanduo in February 2013.

Legal officer of the Sabah police contingent DSP Ang Seow Aun said the statements the police recorded from the accused persons who confessed were evidence that could have them charged for security offences.

"I read their confessions in the statement made under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and that is what I understand of it (involvement with Sulu armed intruders)," he said under cross examination by counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan at the trial of 30 individuals linked to the intrusion.

The police officer said four of the accused -- Salib Akhmad Emali, Anwar Akhmad, Binhar Akhmad and Masir Aidin -- not only admitted to having knowledge of the intrusion, but they had also supplied food to the intruders.

For the accused Ismail Yassin, who was arrested paddling a boat in the sea off Kampung Tanduo, Ang said the accused told the arresting officers that he had come to Kampung Tanduo with the Sulu gunmen.

"But after the skirmish on March 1, 2013, he tried to run away and arrived at Kampung Sungai Bilis where he found a boat," he said.

Ang told the court that the accused Virgilio Nemar Patulada @ Mohammad Alam Patulada was investigated for a security offence after he was discovered in a photograph taken by the security force when negotiations were held with the intruders at Kampung Tanduo.

The witness said Patulada also admitted to coming to the village with the armed intruders and was made a security officer to their leader Datu Agbimuddion Kiram.

"But in a statement before a Sessions Court judge, he said that the moment the skirmish (on March 1, 2013) started, he ran away and wanted to surrender because he did not want to be part of it as he was promised that there would be no war. Is that correct?" asked Sivananthan.

Ang replied: "According to what I understand, that is what the accused said".

The witness also said the accused Aiman Radie had confessed to a Sessions Court judge that he was brought along to Kampung Tanduo with a promise of a monthly salary of 16,000 Pesos to conduct rallies and putting up banners once "Sabah is ours".

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 tomorrow.