Police chief denies having top secret news of Sulu intrusion
(TMI) – The Lahad Datu police chief has denied making any statements about the impending attack by the Sulu militants and has lodged a police report regarding the issue, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah heard today.
Superintendent Shamsudin Mat said he had applied to be called as the 186th witness of the RCI to clarify the statement made by Lahad Datu district officer Zulkifli Nasir on Tuesday.
He said he had lodged a police report at 1.22pm yesterday after reading Zulkifli’s statements in the newspapers.
On Tuesday, Zulkifli told the five-man RCI panel that he had been called to a meeting by Shamsudin in February and was told about the planned landing of the armed intruders.
Zulkifli said that he had been told about the intentions of the armed Sulu terrorists two weeks before they began arriving in Lahad Datu.
“I was told that Lahad Datu was the main target of the armed intruders and informed that the issue was top secret. I was warned not to leak any news about the issue,” Zulkifli told the RCI panel led by former Sabah and Sarawak Chief Justice Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong.
Today, Shamsudin denied that he had called Zulkifli for a meeting or made any statements as claimed by the latter.
He said he was unsure why Zulkifli made such a statement and attempted to contact him for clarification.
“Zulkifli didn’t answer my call but called me back later. He said that his friends and family had also asked him about the issue after reading about it in the newspapers,” Shamsudin said, adding that Zulkifli claimed that he had been misquoted.
“I only came to know about the intrusion on Feb 12 after authorities had detected the landing of the armed Sulu terrorists. I had no information or intelligence relating to the Sulu terrorists prior to Feb 12.
