TAWAU, Jan 23 — A senior police officer from Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur, told the High Court here today that he had arrested three policemen at the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) office in Lahad Datu, Sabah, in connection with the murder of e-hailing driver Nurman Bakaratu.

Insp Muhamad Nazmi Zulkafli, 33, from the D14 Organised Crime Investigation Division, said he arrested two of them, Rosdi Rastam and Khairul Azman Bakar, at 5.25pm on January 25 last year, while John Kennedy Sanggah was arrested at 3.30pm two days later (January 27).

The 16th prosecution witness said he went to the ESSCom office with his team to meet the suspects.

"I introduced myself as a police officer by showing my authorisation card and then asked the suspects to produce their identifications. After checking that they were the persons we were looking for, I conducted a body search on them and also confiscated their mobile phones.

"They were arrested under Section 302 of the Penal Code and then taken to the Tawau district police headquarters (IPD Tawau) for further investigation,” he said.

The witness said this during examination-in-chief the main examination by deputy public prosecutor Mohammad Fakhrurrazi Ahmad on the sixth-day trial of eight individuals, including former ESSCom Chief of Staff (Intelligence) SAC Datuk Mat Zaki Md Zain, charged with killing the e-hailing driver early last year.

The other accused comprised six policemen — Rosdi Rastam, 45, Denis Anit, 45, Fabian Rungam, 44, Khairul Azman Bakar, 47, Mohd Azlan Sakaran, 40, and John Kennedy Sanggah, 44, — and a civilian, Vivien Fabian, 34.

They are charged with murdering Nurman at a palm oil plantation near Jalan Anjur Juara, Jalan Apas Baru 5 here between 7.30pm and 11.30pm on January 13 last year.

The charge, framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read with Section 34 of the same law, provides the death penalty, upon conviction.

Mat Zaki, 59, is facing two charges of conspiring to kill Nurman according to Section 109 of the Penal Code read with Section 302 of the same code.

Earlier, Muhamad Nazmi told the court that on January 22 last year, he was contacted by D14 Assistant Director ACP Muhammad Yazid Muhammad Yew who told him to go to IPD Tawau, Sabah, to help the state police contingent to make an arrest in connection with a police report related to a murder case.

The witness said he and his team members left for Sabah at 7.30am on January 23 Jan and arrived there at 10am and was briefed by ACP Mohd Hakim Hashom, the investigating officer in the case.

"During the briefing session, I received instructions from ACP Mohd Hakim to conduct intelligence and arrest the three suspects by the name of Rosdi Rastam, Khairul Azman Bakar and John Kennedy Sanggah for investigation,” he said.

Meanwhile, questioned by lawyer Datuk Ram Singh, representing Mat Zaki and two other accused, the witness denied that the three suspects were arrested for alleged involvement in an organised crime.

"I was in Sabah not for an organised crime case,” said the witness.

Questioned by Mohammad Fakhrurrazi about the reason for the D14 police officers to go to Sabah, Muhamad Nazmi said they were instructed to arrest suspects in a murder case.

The trial before Judge Datuk Duncan Sikodol continues. — Bernama