Commissioners grill inspector over lapses in police procedure

WANG KELIAN RCI | Police inspector Mohd Mossadique Azni struggled to answer a barrage of questions directed at him during the Wang Kelian Royal Commission of Inquiry today.

Taking the stand after the lunch break, Mossadique recounted how he had led a 10-man team deep into the jungle near the Thai border on Jan 19, 2015, for a surveillance mission.

This followed information received on the presence of "human camps" and possible illicit activity at the location.

However, Mossadique said the mission went awry when people at the camps detected the presence of the police, and fled before he and his team arrived.

When he led that mission, the inspector said he had already been stationed at the border for four years, and had arrested undocumented migrants who slipped through the border “one or two” at a time.

Read more: Wang Kelian RCI: Cop tells of 'beep' which led woman to shout 'police are here'

When commissioner Tan Seng Giaw questioned why he had led a large team into the jungle for a mere surveillance mission and not a raid on the jungle camps, Mossadique answered that it was for “security purposes.”

He also admitted that he had underestimated the size of the camps.

Mossadique's response seemed to upset commissioner Razali Ismail.

“I am not satisfied with what the inspector has said. You knew there was human trafficking (happening at the border), but yet you were not equipped to detect it?

“How could you not suspect that human trafficking was happening?” he asked.

Mossadique (above) reiterated that his only experience up to that point was arresting “one or two” undocumented migrants at a time, and that police had not realised that human traffickers were keeping large numbers of people deep in the Wang Kelian jungle.

Tan and Razali then took turns firing questions at the inspector on why the police were not better informed about human trafficking activities, and were not better equipped to tackle them.

Before he could respond to the questions, the RCI's deputy chairperson and former inspector-general of police Norian Mai stepped in and asked Mossadique whether the Special Branch had ever shared with him information about undocumented migrants crossing the border.

“As far as I know, they did not,” Mossadique said.

SOP for undocumented migrants

Earlier, the inspector had also struggled to answer questions from the panel as to whether police had a standard operating procedure when they arrested undocumented migrants at the border.

He was also asked if he or his officers had been given training on how to process undocumented migrants.

To both questions, Mossadique stayed silent for several minutes before eventually muttering “I am not sure” after the commissioners repeated the questions.

In 2015, 139 graves containing 106 bodies, many believed to be of trafficked Rohingya refugees, were discovered deep in the jungles of Bukit Genting Perah and Bukit Wang Burma in Wang Kelian, just a few hundred metres from the Thai border.

Twenty-eight trafficking detention camps were also discovered.

So far, authorities have charged just four foreign nationals linked to a trafficking syndicate for the mass graves. 

Thai authorities, meanwhile, have charged 62 individuals, including nine government officials.

The Home Ministry set up the RCI back in January and appointed former chief justice Ariffin Zakaria as its chairperson.

Aside from Tan, Razali and Norian, the commission also comprises former ambassador to Thailand Nazirah Hussin, former chief prosecutor Noorbahri Baharuddin, and former head of research at the Attorney-General’s Chambers Junaidah Abdul Rahman.

The inquiry has been given until September this year to prepare its report.

The public hearing will resume tomorrow. 

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