Cop: Superior ordered us to delete photos of Wang Kelian operations

WANG KELIAN RCI | A police officer, who led a team to surveil and later destroy human trafficking camps in the jungle near the Malaysian-Thai border, claimed his superior instructed him to delete photographs of the operations.

“There was a time in March or April 2015 when I received an order from my 'pegawai pemerintah' (commanding officer) that those with photographs of Wang Kelian must delete them (from their devices).

“The photographs could only be stored at the battalion,” said ASP MA Joeking, adding that he complied with the order.

Pressed on who issued the order, Joeking, who was testifying at the Wang Kelian Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) in Putrajaya today, repeated that it was his “pegawai pemerintah.”

Earlier, he had revealed that his immediate superior at the time was one Supt Wan Hamzah Wan Kadir.

Wan Hamzah is expected to be called to testify before the RCI.

On Jan 19, 2015, Joeking headed a surveillance mission into the jungle after receiving information about the camps and possible illicit activities there.

His officer Mohd Mossadique Azni, who led a smaller 10-member team into the actual camps, later informed him that people at the camps had detected their presence and most of them escaped before the team arrived.

The next day, Joeking received specific instructions from then-Perlis deputy police chief to “musnahkan kem tersebut” (destroy the camps) but was not given a reason.

On Jan 21, the ASP led a 30-member team to destroy all structures at the human trafficking camps and they began by burning the pieces of blue canvas found there.

However, he instructed his team to stop burning or destroying anything after discovering several graves in the area.

[More to follow] - Mkini