Lahad Datu intrusion accused showed police documents on ‘Sulu Sultanate’

An accused in the Lahad Datu intrusion case had shown the police some documents linking him to the so-called Sulu sultanate, the Kota Kinabalu High Court was told today. Defence witness Bakrin Hadil, 33, a Filipino, testified that his older brother, Timhar Hadil, who is charged with being a member of a terrorist group, explained the details of the documents to the police via an old man known simply as 'pak imam'. "The documents shown to the police were what Timhar received from (sultan) Muedzul Lail (Kiram). "Timhar was not very conversant in Bahasa Malaysia. So, that is why he asked pak imam to tell the police about the Sulu sultanate," he said in local Bahasa Malaysia. To a question by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Jamil Aripin under cross-examination, Bakrin said when he heard he and his brother were sought by the police, he told the 'pak imam' in Kampung Binua – the village he stayed at – about it and the 'pak imam' volunteered to assist them during a meeting with the police. He told the court that he called a Lahad Datu CID personnel, Sergeant Yusof Pantrin and asked him to meet them at a restaurant in Lahad Datu at 10am on February 18, 2013. He said he also brought along his father, Habil Suhaili, who is also charged with being a member of a terrorist group. After about 10 minutes at the restaurant, the witness said he and his brother, father and the 'pak imam' were arrested. Bakrin also said that he had wanted to introduce Timhar to Yusof so that his brother could assist the police in looking out for criminal activites in Lahad Datu as he (Bakrin) had. He said he had been providing Yusof with information on vice activities in the dictrict for about six months before he was arrested on February 18, 2013. Thirteen Filipinos and a local man are entering their defence before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prison Department for various offences allegedly committed between February 12 and April 10, 2013. Some of the accused are facing one to multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Others are alleged to have wilfully harboured individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group, or solicited or gave support to a terrorist group. The hearing continues tomorrow. – Bernama, March 8, 2016.]]>