The late Selangor customs deputy chief Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad was "very cooperative" during his arrest, and subsequent searches of his office and homes, said the MACC officer charged with detaining him.

"He was calm and cooperated fully with us. He appears normal, well, an old hand like him probably has lots of experience (with these things)," assistant superintendent Sheikh Niza Sheikh Mohamad told the inquest into the custom senior official's death.

Sheikh Niza was the officer in charge of the team that arrested the customs officer on April 1 during the nationwide 3B anti-graft operation.

He related how he was handed a file containing details of alleged bribes paid to the public official by freight agents from Topmark Freight and Shipping Snd Bhd on the morning of April 1.

NONE Sheikh Niza who was formerly assigned to the commission's intelligence unit for more than 10 years, then led a team of three others to arrest Ahmad Sarbaini at his office in Northport Klang.

He explained how they seized personal items from the deceased and proceeded to search his car and office but found no noteworthy evidence.

The team then proceeded to search Ahmad Sarbaini's house at the Kelana Jaya customs quarters and another homes in Sungai Buloh with his full cooperation.

No major evidence was found except for bank books belonging to the customs officer and his wife, which were seized to aid investigations.

Testimony postponed

Sheikh Niza, who is the 17th witness to be called before the inquest, later revealed how he took his detainee back to the MACC office in Jalan Cochrane, where he handed him over to another team in charge of his preliminary interview.

He related how the deceased was given lock-up clothes to change into and was fed. Ahmad Sarbaini's interview ended at about 11pm that day, after which point he was transported to the police lock-up in Bukit Jalil.

The remainder of Sheikh Niza's testimony was postponed until 9am tomorrow.

Ahmad Sarbaini was among several customs officers picked up for suspected graft on that day.

He was found dead on April 6 on the first floor badminton court of the MACC building after allegedly falling from a third floor pantry window, the cause of which is the subject of the inquest, which is in its sixth day today.

Sheikh Niza was the officer who recorded the second part of Ahmad Sarbaini's statement on April 4, in which he allegedly admitted to taking bribes from two forwarding agents.

It was this statement that he wanted to amend when he went to the MACC office on April 6, just hours before his mysterious death.