PUTRAJAYA: Several Malaysians, who were believed to have been involved in the Wang Kelian human trafficking syndicate, had been on the police radar even before the discovery of the camp.
This was revealed by Assistant Superintendent Jamaluddin Shah Mohd Jawan, who was then the Padang Besar Special Branch (SB) chief in 2015, to the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the Wang Kelian human-trafficking camp and mass graves today.
According to Jamaluddin Shah, the 11 names which were mentioned in an incident report by one Deputy Superintendent S. Sivanganam, following the discovery of the camp and mass graves in January 2015, were not considered new information to the SB.
“Some of these names were already under our observation. It is not new,” he said, adding that many of the individuals mentioned were acting as ‘runners’ for the syndicate.
Jamaluddin Shah added that the names in the report, copies of which were also made available to the RCI panel, were also just nicknames.
When asked who among the individuals were under police observation, Jamaluddin kept mum, and raised his hand as a signal to the RCI conducting officer Khairul Anuar Abd Halim that the information was confidential.
The inquiry then requested all press and public members attending the hearing to temporarily leave the hall as the panel continued its probe with Jamaluddin Shah.
The proceeding was held behind closed doors for about 30 minutes before the public were allowed back in, at which time the panel had completed its questioning on Jamaluddin Shah, and a new witness was called in.
Last Thursday, when taking the stand as a witness, Sivanganam, who was at the time the commanding officer of a General Operations Force (PGA) battalion overseeing the Wang Kelian operations, revealed he had been given information by an unnamed source that Malaysians were involved in the syndicate.
He claimed that among the 11 individuals, one of them, who is believed to gone by the name of Azim, had acted as a middleman and would collaborate with Malaysian enforcement officers to ensure the syndicate went without a hitch.
He said several villagers from Wang Kelian had also abetted the syndicate by acting as ‘transporters’ who would ferry the immigrants to others parts of Malaysia.
Sivanganam said he had also submitted the incident report to the Perlis police chief, Kedah police chief, the Kedah-Perlis border intelligence unit, the states’ National Security Councils and his headquarters, considering the weight of the information.
