Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar signed out a submachine gun for a "special mission" from the police armoury for almost four weeks - from Oct 4 to Oct 30 last year - the Altantuya murder trial heard today.

Altantuya is suspected to be murdered on Oct 20 last year, allegedly by Sirul and chief inspector Azilah Hadri. Well-connected political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda is charged with abetting them.

Constable Fatimah Abdul Wahab, 30, said that Sirul was also issued 60 rounds of ammunition along with the silencer-equipped MP5 submachine gun from the special action squad (UTK) armoury in national police headquarters Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur.

Fatimah, the prosecution's 16th witness to the murder trial of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu, said that she was in charge of recording weapons and bullets that were taken out and returned to the armoury store.

She said that based on her logbook, Sirul had cited "special mission" as the purpose of taking out the weapon.

She, however, told the court that she did not know what the "special mission" was.

She also told the court that Sirul's entry was the only one which stated a weapon was being taken out on a "special mission".

Fatimah testified that this was the only 'special mission' entry in the 2006 record book as other entries were for other purposes such as training and escort services.

Desk job with weapon

Her testimony today revealed the Sirul had a weapon with him during the period Altantuya was killed. Yesterday, UTK deputy commander Mastor Mohd Ariff testified that during that period Sirul was assigned to a desk job which does not entail the need to carry arms.

Fatimah said today that based on her logbook, Sirul had the submachine gun ( photo - not the actual gun ) and the bullets with him for 26 days.

She also told deputy public prosecutor Manoj Kurup that although she had not logged in the number of bullets taken and returned by Sirul, she remembered that he returned all 60 unused bullets.

She said she she "counted them in front of Sirul" when he returned the bullets.

Fatimah said it was standard procedure to issue 60 rounds of ammunition with an MP5 submachine gun.

"I was the one who gave the bullets to Sirul ( right, centre ) but I did not make a note," she said, blaming the omission on carelessness.

Confused constable

Fatimah's three-hour long testimony of the constable was filled with contradictions, resulting in prosecutors, defence lawyers and judge Mohd Zaki Md Yassin needing to ask her the same questions many times to clarify her answers.

She also admitted that she was "careless" and could have been "busy" when asked why the logbook was filled with empty columns, especially the column meant to note down the number of bullets taken out.

"It's because I forgot to write (in the register)," explained Fatimah.

She added that "others on duty (at the armoury store) were also just as careless".

The column for noting down the number of bullets taken out - under the heading 'number of rounds and magazines' - was left empty throughout the register, save for a few entries. [ see full-size version ].

Fatimah also revealed that she was not required to note down the number of bullets returned to the armoury.

The register, which logs entries for 2006, does not have a column for 'returned bullets'.

The visibly confused constable contradicted herself time and again, leaving the court in stitches at her contradicting statements.

A clearly frustrated justice Mohd Zaki even allowed for a 15-minute break so that Fatimah could look over the register properly before answering any questions.

Blast-related killing

The UTK is the elite police force tasked with carrying out covert operations like strike force operations and overt operations such as escorting the prime minister and deputy prime minister.

Sirul joined UTK in 1996, while Azilah was with unit from 2003.

Azilah, 30, and Sirul, 35, are charged with the murder of the Mongolian national while political analyst Abdul Razak, 47, is charged with abetting them.

Prosecutors say Abdul Razak planned her killing and ordered two police officers to carry it out.

Altantuya was killed by "probable blast-related" injuries in a clearing in Shah Alam after she was driven away from outside Abdul Razak's house in mid-October.

No evidence has yet been introduced to describe what type of "blast" was involved.

All three face the death penalty if found guilty. The hearing continues tomorrow.