KUALA LUMPUR (April 10): The defence in Muhammad Yusoff Rawther’s drug trafficking and fake pistols case has produced in the High Court two news articles quoting Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department Director Datuk Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zin alerting (the public) over the existence of a device which can manipulate the remote controls of motor vehicles.
This was produced by Yusoff’s lead counsel Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, but was objected to by Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Sabri Othman before judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin, who questioned the relevance of the two publications to the trial.
Rafique replied that the defence has to put in their defence over the possibility that those items (drugs and fake pistols) were planted, and the publications mentioning Mohd Shuhaily himself alerting the public that automobile remote controls could be hacked by criminals following a rise in the number of vehicle thefts.
Following this, Jamil allowed the two news articles to be referred to by Sergeant Chong Choon Khen, 46, during his testimony, and marked for identification purposes, but not as defence exhibits.
The two articles, which were published late last year, were entitled: “Car thieves have gone high tech” and “Car thefts on the rise in Malaysia: 10,849 vehicles stolen in 2024 up to Sept, pick-ups and SUV’s targeted”.
Chong, who was part of the raiding party that led to Yusoff’s arrest and the discovery of the fake pistols and drugs, replied that he knew of the existence of such a device, but it was only for luxury cars like Toyota Vellfire and Toyota Alphard, Ford, or four-wheel-drive vehicles.
“However, I do not know if this is applicable to this type (Yusoff’s Nissan Teana),” he said.
When questioned by Rafique, the policeman, who had escorted Yusoff for the duration of the raid from after the raiding party had introduced themselves as being from the police, denied that the items were planted in the accused’s car.
This follows the defence lawyer saying that the police had received a specific tip-off of the type of car, colour, licence plate and location of the car, and the police had named the operation leading to arrest as Ops Laras (denoting firearm). But Chong, who is the seventh prosecution witness, disagreed.
The witness said not all tip-offs lead to the discovery of firearms or contrabands, despite the information gained.
Chong, who was initially not slated to be summoned as a prosecution witness, was called following several discrepancies as to how the Nissan Teana car was opened, following a court inspection of the vehicle on Wednesday. The car was brought to the court complex for the judge, lawyers and the prosecution to examine.
The prosecution’s first witness, Inspector Wan Muhammad Wan Ali, who had led the raid, had testified on Monday that he had seen Yusoff using the car key to manually open the door to the front passenger seat. But, when the car was viewed by the court, there was no keyhole to the front passenger door.
Chong agreed that Yusoff seemed to have difficulty using the remote control to his car on the morning of Sept 6, 2024; but as Wan Muhammad had said, the raiding party also had difficulty opening the doors of the vehicle, so the officer had asked Yusoff to use the manual key.
However, upon failing to open the driver’s door with the manual key, Yusoff and Chong went over to the front passenger side and managed to open the door there.
Rafique, acting upon instructions from his client, suggested that it was Chong who had opened the front passenger door and not Yussoff, but the police sergeant disagreed, saying it was the accused.
Chong also said following that (the opening of the front passenger door), all four car doors of the Nissan Teana could be opened.
The police sergeant, who has been attached to the D9 (police criminal special investigation) section for four years, added that as the traffic was getting heavy at Bukit Kiara, the raiding team decided to bring the car and the accused to the Kuala Lumpur contingent police headquarters.
He further said that he handcuffed Yusoff and accompanied him to the KL contingent police HQ in the Nissan Teana car, and it was upon further search at the HQ that they discovered the cannabis drugs beneath the back passenger seat.
The police had earlier recovered a black bag containing the fake pistols.
Yusoff is on trial for charges of trafficking 300.1 grammes of cannabis and the possession of imitation pistols at a roadside near a condominium in Bukit Kiara, here, at 9.25am on Sept 6, 2024.
The drug charge under Section 39B (1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 is punishable under Section 39B(2) of the same Act, which carries a life sentence and also whipping of not less than 12 lashes, if convicted.
For the charge of fake pistol possession, he faces a maximum imprisonment term of a year or a maximum fine of up to RM5,000, or both, if found guilty under Section 36 (1) of the Arms Act 1960.
The hearing before Jamil continues on Friday.