KANGAR, Oct 4 — Five men pleaded not guilty in the Magistrates’ Court here today to a charge of attempting to kill a policeman.

Mohd Firdaus Abdul Hadi, 34, Muhammad Alif Saiful Ahmad Zaini, 31, Muhammad Badrul Amin Ahmad, 26, Muhammad Yasin Zairi, 20, and Abdul Tawwab Abd Ghalib, 36, made the plea after the charge was read out to them separately before Magistrate Nurshahida Abdul Rahim.

Mohd Firdaus, Muhammad Alif Saiful, Muhammad Badrul Amin, Muhammad Yasin and another person still at large were charged with attempting to murder policemen by ramming a Proton X70 car, with registration number VED 8178 they were travelling in, into a police patrol car.

As for Abdul Tawwab, he was charged with committing a similar offence by driving a Perodua Myvi car (registration number VLA 8914) at a high speed and in a dangerous manner into a police team.

They were charged with committing the offence at Permai 2, Jalan Satu, Taman Jejawi in Arau, between 4am to 4.20am last September 27.

The charge, under Section 307 of the Penal Code, provides imprisonment for up to 10 years and if hurt is caused to any person by such act, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment for a term which may extend to twenty years upon conviction.

All the accused were not allowed bail.

In the same court, the five of them with another person still at large, were also charged with committing mischief by cutting cables belonging to Telekom Malaysia at the same location, time and date.

They also pleaded not guilty to the charge, framed under Section 431A of the Penal Code and read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides imprisonment for up to two years or a fine or both if convicted.

The court allowed them bail of RM3,500 with one surety each and set October 24 for mention.

The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Tengku Ruqayyah Tengku Shahrom while Mohd Firdaus, Muhammad Alif Saiful, Muhammad Badrul Amin and Muhammad Yasin were represented by lawyer Datuk Ganesan Subramaniam.

Abdul Tawwab was represented by lawyer Muhamad Amirul Mansor from the National Legal Aid Foundation. — Bernama