The High Court in Kota Kinabalu today heard that the security forces had found amulets at a skirmish area in Kampung Tanjung Batu, Lahad Datu last year.

When identifying the items tendered in court, ASP Mursalim Mohd Salleh said he seized two amulets along with a chain of praying beads on March 7 last year.

“The praying beads (tasbih) were white and there were two amulets,” he said.

Mursalim, a General Operations Force (GOF) platoon commander, said one of the amulets was wrapped in a black cloth and there was a yellow string on it.

The other amulet looked like a stone in a black woven pouch and attached to a long black string, he said.

“Were there any other markings or words on the tasbih or amulets,” asked deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar.

“No,” answered Mursalim.

Other items Mursalim identified as the ones he seized that day were seven knives, a camouflage cap, six notebooks that contained words written in a language he did not understand and a bundle of papers.

Thirty accused, comprising 27 Filipinos and three local residents, are being tried in the case, in which some are facing multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or willfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.

They allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10 last year.

The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department continues tomorrow.

- Bernama