Questions remain on link between drug bust and pastor’s abduction
23rd Nov 2017
Suhakam commissioner and former Court of Appeal judge Mah Weng Kwai said this while questioning Selangor Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief SAC Fadzil Ahmat on the matter.
In the drug sting operation, police had found items linked to Koh in the home of the suspect who was shot dead.
These included the number plate from Koh’s car, bearing the letters ST5515D; a picture of the pastor’s house; a picture of the pastor and another of his cars.
Mah said “big questions” remained regarding the incident, and asked Fadzil for an explanation on the items.
Fadzil said he had no explanation for why the items were in the suspect’s house.
“But to us, when the items were found during the raid, they had shot Fauzi (the suspect) who had links with the other four men that were arrested.
“This is why the four were arrested and handed over to us, and because these items were in Fauzi’s house, police were under the impression that the four had a link to the case.”
He added that the four suspects were later freed on police bail.
He was speaking on day eleven of the public inquiry by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) into Koh’s disappearance.
When Mah asked Fadzil who had decided there was a link between the suspects and the case, Fadzil answered: “When the officers conducting the raid reached there, they discussed with the other officers and said based on the physical evidence, there were items that were connected to our case.”
Mah then asked if there was a sketch plan of the locations in the house where the items had been found.
Fadzil said the plan was in the investigation papers.
When asked why nothing was obtained from the dead suspect’s wife, considering that the items had been found in their house, Fadzil said the woman had been arrested in Kedah and remanded for a week.
“But we did not manage to get any information that could help us with the pastor’s case.
“My task force that was investigating Pastor Koh’s case questioned her in Kedah, but I’m not exactly sure who,” he said, adding that he would have to check.
Mah asked Fadzil if he agreed that the matter remained “a big question mark” in Koh’s case.
“How did these items end up in the suspect’s house? And no one seems to know how they ended up there or why they were there,” he said.
However, Fadzil said the police were also interested in finding answers.
“We want to know as well, why those items were at the dead suspect’s house,” he said.
The public inquiry into Koh’s abduction is chaired by Mah and includes Suhakam commissioners Prof Dr Aishah Bidin and Dr Nik Salida Suhaila Nik Salleh.
The inquiry will consider, among others, whether the cases of Koh, activist Amri Che Mat, and Pastor Joshua Hilmy and wife Ruth, were cases of enforced or involuntary disappearance, as defined under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Koh, 63, was abducted from his car by a group of more than 10 men in a convoy of vehicles on Feb 13.
CCTV footage showed at least three black SUVs were involved in the abduction. Many speculated that his abduction might have been connected to his alleged attempts to spread Christianity, although his family has dismissed such claims.
Amri, 44, who co-founded charity organisation Perlis Hope, has been missing since Nov 24 last year.
His wife, Norhayati Ariffin, said witnesses saw five vehicles blocking the path of Amri’s car before he was whisked away, just 550 metres from their home in Bukit Chabang, Perlis.
Joshua and his wife, Ruth, meanwhile, were last seen on Nov 30 last year. A police report was lodged in Klang but the case was referred to the Petaling Jaya police as the complainant said the missing persons lived in Kampung Tunku.
Link to article at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/11/23/questions-remain-on-link-between-drug-bust-and-pastors-abduction/