A firearm seized from Kampung Sri Jaya, Simunul in Semporna, following a skirmish on March 2 last year, displayed the words ‘Made in the Philippines’, the High Court in Kota Kinabalu was told today.

Sabah Special Branch (SB) personnel Sergeant Mohd Mustafa Kamal Ngah pointed to the words on the body of a M16 rifle when identifying the weapon.

He had found the rifle at about 3pm on March 3 last year inside a boat which was underneath the house he was trapped in for about 22 hours.

Also in the boat was a man who had been shot dead, he said .

Questioned by deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff whether the rifle that was produced in court was the same as the one he discovered that day, Mohd Mustafa Kamal acknowledged it by pointing to the green sling on the rifle and two black cloth strings tied on the weapon’s stock.

He also said the rifle did not have a magazine or bullet inside when he found it.

The witness told the court that the distance between the floorboards of the house and the boat was about five to eight feet when he and another police personnel fished out the weapon.

Mohd Mustafa Kamal also identified a black backpack as the same one he saw on the back of the late Bukit Aman SB officer Superintendent Ibrahim Lebar when the deceased fell in front of him on the night of March 2 last year before he succumbed to his injuries.

However, he said he did not take the bag off the late Ibrahim.

“When I pulled the bag, the late Ibrahim’s arm was already stiff. So, I was not able to take it,” he added.

During cross-examination, the sergeant said he was instructed to provide security escort to the late Ibrahim and three others in his team, who were not armed, in Lahad Datu on Feb 21-25 last year and in Semporna from Feb 25 until the skirmish.

To a question by counsel N Sivananthan, he said he did not know why Ibrahim and the three personnel were not armed.

However, he said he did not find it unusual for the four SB personnel from Bukit Aman to not carry firearms.

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 on Sept 8.

- Bernama