PUTRAJAYA: A retired police officer told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) probing the Wang Kelian human trafficking case he had received information in 2015 about a Malaysian man who was the middleman for the syndicate involved in the case.
S. Sivanganam, who was then deputy commander of the General Operations Force (GOF) 3rd Battalion, said he was told the middleman’s name was either Aziz or Azim.
The sixth witness to testify in the two days so far of the RCI said he had received a tip-off from an unidentified villager on Jan 20, a day after his team raided the human trafficking camp at Bukit Wang Burma.
Sivanganam, who retired as a deputy superintendent, said the source told him that he was approached by Aziz to transport the illegal immigrants out of the northern state.
“I received a call from the unknown source informing me about a man, named Aziz or Azim, who had been helping the syndicate handle illegal immigrants.
“He also told me the names of a few villagers who had helped Aziz transport the illegal immigrants. The source said he was also approached by Aziz, but had refused his offer (to transport illegal immigrants),” he told the seven-member commission panel.
The panel is led by former chief justice Tun Ariffin Zakaria, with former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Norian Mai as his deputy.
The other members of the RCI are former chief prosecutor, Datuk Noorbahri Baharuddin; former Suhakam chief commissioner Tan Sri Razali Ismail; former head of research at the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Datuk Junaidah Abdul Rahman; former ambassador to Thailand, Datuk Nazirah Hussin; and, former Public Accounts Committee deputy chairman Dr Tan Seng Giew.
Sivanganam said he was given a description of “Aziz”, who was said to have a skin problem, along with a tip as to where he could be found.
Based on this, Sivanganam went to a building adjacent to the Immigration, Customs and Quarantine complex and found a man who fit the description, down to the fact that he had skin problems.
“I then submitted a incident report on Jan 22. In my report, I included the chronology of the intelligence, findings and my conclusion,” he told the panel.
Sivanganam said he then despatched a copy of the report to the Kedah and Perlis police chiefs, Kedah-Perlis Border Intelligence Unit, North Brigade GOF commanding officer, National Security Council and Suhakam.
Asked if he knew whether local authorities were in cahoots with the human trafficking syndicate for whom Aziz was working, Sivangam said: “Yes. This is based on the information given by the source, who told me what Aziz told him when the former was trying to get him to transport the illegal immigrants.”
Asked if any of the parties to whom he had forwarded the copy of his report had contacted him, he said only the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman had done so, and only in February or March 2016.
Sivanganam said he had been forbidden from going on any other operation after Wang Kelian, right up to the day he retired.
“I dared not question who gave this instruction and why.”
Asked by Tan whether, if he had been in charge of anything, he would have destroyed the camp, he said he would not as further investigations were necessary.