‘Blast not necessary by an explosives’ expert’
R. Surenthira Kumar
The Sun
The Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial DAY 68
The Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial was told today the blast which was carried out at the crime scene had not necessarily been carried out by an expert in explosives.
Replying to questions posed by Deputy Public Prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin during re-examination, Bukit Aman post-blast investigations chief DSP Muhammad Koey Abdullah said "any person who had attended the basic course on explosives could have conducted the blast".
He added that the scene of the crime where the blast occurred, was not an area which was ideal or would have been used for the disposal of bombs or explosives.
Testifying on the 68th day of the trial in the High Court before judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin, Muhammad Koey reiterated that explosives were placed on the top part of a human body at the scene of the crime.
Muhammad Koey said he arrived at the conclusion based on the "360-degree effect of a blast".
He said the presence of bone fragments, lumps of hair, burnt wire reels, scorched tree barks and the positive and negative phases of a blast compounded his verification that a blast had occurred at the spot.
Asked if a claymore mine was used in the blast, he told the court it was no more in use since the late 1990’s after the government signed and agreed to observe the United Nations’ Convention on the possession and used of anti-personnel mine.
At one point during Muhammad Koey's testimony, there was some ‘alarm’ in the court room when he was asked to open an envelope containing the sample of a detonator.
Muhammad Koed asked those in the court room to switch off their handphones as there was a danger of the detonator exploding due to presence of static electricity.
"If it explodes it will be near you isn’t it?," quipped Mohd Zaki, while Noorin was seen turning away from Muhammad Koey.
Mohd Zaki however stopped Muhammad Koey from taking out the detonator after he was told that it's a sample and not something retrieved from the blast site.
Among other witnesses called to testify briefly today was a police personnel from the Bukit Aman Anti-Vice/Secret Societies division, Looi Kwee Pin, who was asked about a handphone line which earlier belonged to private investigator P.Balasubramaniam, which he subscribed to now.
Looi said he was not aware of the previous owner and that he subscribed to the additional line under a family package.
Another witness, Aswami Fadillah Mohd Ariffin, from Cyber Security Sdn Bhd, was recalled by defence lawyer Wong Kian Kheong, to provide verification as to the handphone numbers allegedly belonging to his client Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda.
Aswami said he was told by three police officers that the number belonged to Abdul Razak but he did not verify with Maxis Communications Bhd if the numbers actually belonged to Abdul Razak.
Meanwhile, Celcom (M) Bhd executive Mohd Firdaous Mohd Omar, 30, told the court he helped retrieve information and data pertaining to several handphone numbers, upon a request from the police.
Mohd Firdaous said among the numbers that he was asked to check was a line belonging to DSP Musa Mohd Safri.
He said the mobile number 019 3331824 was previously a post-paid line registered under the name of Amalina Mamat, but after the line was terminated by the user, Celcom recycled the number and turned it into a pre-paid line.
He also told the court the line for the pre-paid number was active but the user was unidentified because the mandatory requirement for pre-paid users to register their names with the service provider came into effect only from last January.
Mohd Firdaous was also asked about several other mobile phone numbers which the police had requested to be checked for details of the users and an itemised billing. (The other two numbers, based on the previous testimonies, allegedly belonged to L/Cpl Rohaniza Roslan and Chief Insp Azilah Hadri.)
Mohd Firdaous said he also furnished the details of the SIM cards of the mobile phones which the police requested Celcom to check.
He continues with his testimony today.
WHAT HAPPENED – DAY 68
DSP Muhammad Koey Abdullah testified
Aswami Fadillah Mohd Ariffin from Cyber Security Sdn Bhd testified
Looi Kwee Pin from Bukit Aman Anti-Vice/Secret Societies division testified
Celcom (M) Bhd executive Mohd Firdaous Mohd Omar testified
