Day 1: Wang Kelian RCI hears how cop discovered camps

WANG KELIAN RCI | Police corporal Mat Ten recounted how he had discovered human trafficking camps in the jungle near the Thai-Malaysian border on Jan 18, 2015.

Mat was the first witness to testify at the Wang Kelian Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) public hearing, which is being held in Putrajaya.

Addressing the panel, the General Operations Force member recounted how he and his partner noticed tracks from the bushes leading to the road when patrolling the area.

The next morning, on Jan 19, he followed the tracks deep into the jungle and discovered several watchtowers built on trees, people, camps and wooden structures there. He later reported this to his superiors.

That evening, Mat (above) and nine other police personnel embarked on a surveillance mission, but their presence was detected.

“There was a woman who shouted ‘polis sampai!’ (police are here).

“That is how we knew there were people in the houses. But they destroyed and broke everything (when trying to escape),” he added.

Mat said his team failed to arrest those who ran away, but managed to detain six “pendatang” (foreigners) who could not flee due to injuries. The six were inside a wooden structure which was fenced and locked.

Mat said he did not ask the nationalities of the six, who were taken to the Wang Kelian police station and processed.

The panel questioned the corporal multiple times about the 10-officer mission, and the latter maintained that they had obtained instructions to only surveil the camps, not to raid or conduct arrests.

Following a short break, Mat’s immediate superior Sergeant Yusuf Islam Hassan gave his testimony and concurred that the 10-officer mission had been a mere surveillance operation. 

When the panel asked him why police surveillance could be so easily detected by their targets, Yusuf answered that he was unsure how it happened. 

The RCI panel is chaired by former chief justice Ariffin Zakaria (above). Ariffin is assisted by former inspector-general of police Norian Mai, along with five commissioners.

The commissioners are former ambassador to Thailand Nazirah Hussin; former public accounts committee deputy chairperson Tan Seng Giaw; former chief prosecutor Noorbahri Baharuddin; former diplomat Razali Ismail and former head of research at the Attorney-General’s Chambers Junaidah Abdul Rahman.

[More to follow] - Mkini