A witness at the inquiry to investigate into the nude ear-squats scandal today got cold feet and decided he could not recognise the police officer who had asked him to transfer the video clip from his hand-phone anymore.

Ong Yoong Keong, a hand-phone technician working in a shop in Petaling Jaya, told the five-member independent inquiry commission that a man wearing a "tee-shirt, blue pants, and shiny shoes" had asked him to transfer data from his hand-phone's memory card.

Ong said he recognised the man as he used to pass in front of the shop on his motorcycle in police uniform.

When he was told to transfer the data, however, he initially did not know that it contained the files of the video clip of a woman performing ear squats in the nude in front of a policewoman.

"After work when I went home, only then I saw (the video clip) in my house. It was of a woman taking off her clothes in front of a policewoman," said Ong.

He added that this was sometime "during the fasting month" this year (between Oct 4 - Nov 4).

After being assured that he would not be prosecuted on account of any information from his testimony, Ong admitted that he had sent copies of the video clip to two people through the Internet.

When asked, however, if he could identify the policeman who had approached him with the task of transferring the data from his memory card, Ong said he could no longer identify the officer.

He maintained that he could no longer recognise the police officer despite "many" earlier statements to the police to the contrary.

"I thought I could (identify him)," said Ong.

He turned to Suhaimi Ibrahim, the lawyer facilitating the inquiry, before adding that he "cannot remember him anymore."

Cops show effectiveness

Later, the commission was given more examples by three police and prison officers of the effectiveness of naked ear squats in discovering or recovering items hidden by police detainees.

Corporal Noraini Jaafar from the Port Klang police station, related to the five-member commission of an incident in which a female suspect, arrested on Nov 22 in connection to a drug case, was believed to be concealing something.

After the arrest and upon being brought to the police station, a body search of the detainee in the police lock-up did not produce anything, said Noraini.

Even a body search of the detainee with her outer and under-clothes loosened did not reveal any 'prohibited' item, she added.

Even five squats proved futile, said Noraini, until she noticed that the suspect seemed to keep her thighs together while performing them.

"I was suspicious because the suspect seemed to be squeezing (her thighs) together. So I told her to do squats while 'opening wide," she said.

It led to the drop of a red pill from the lower-front part of the detainee's private parts, said Noraini.

When questioned by commissioner Kamilia Ibrahim, however, Noraini conceded that she did not have extensive experience in body search.

This was also the first time, she added, that she had found drugs on a detained suspect in this manner.

'Lighter'

Corporal Suhaimi Kamal Kamarul Baharin from the Alor Setar police station in Kedah also related a similar 'success' on Dec 14 last year with a male suspect arrested in Kuala Kedah on drug charges.

When they were alone in a room in the police station, the suspect was ordered to strip and perform squats with his arms raised, said Suhaimi.

From his anus, a plastic bag, containing substances suspected of being illegal drugs, including syabu (methamphetamine), dropped out, said Suhaimi.

Kajang Prison officer Zuraida Ghazali, meanwhile, related her success on Oct 19 this year after ordering a female inmate to perform ear squats.

"(After the ear squats), she was told to take out the lighter that was in her private parts," she said.