KOTA KINABALU: Security operations in the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) zone will not be compromised or affected following the charging of its senior officials in a Tawau murder case on Wednesday.
Esscom commander Deputy Comm Datuk Hamzah Ahmad said all operations and workflow were as usual, with some adjustments made where needed.
“The Esscom assignments continue as usual,” he said yesterday.
He said Esscom was in the middle of making follow-up plans and initiatives to ensure that the team and overall security force would not be involved in any crime or compromising activities.
Hamzah said the top management would decide the next course of action after six officers were charged with murder including its intelligence chief SAC Datuk Mat Zaki Md Zain.
Esscom is in charge of security in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) comprising the districts of Kudat, Kota Marudu, Pitas, Beluran, Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Semporna and Tawau.
Esscom was set up following the Tanduo intrusion in Lahad Datu in 2013, which saw dozens of civilians, intruders and 10 members of the security forces killed.
On Wednesday, Mat Zaki, 58, was charged with abetting the murder of e-hailing driver Nurman Bakaratu, 61, whose body was found in a bush in Tawau district on Jan 16.
Five other officers, acting ASP Rosdi Rastam, 44, Sjn-Mejar Dennis Anat Enit, 44; Sjn-Mejar Fabian Rungam, 43; Sjn-Mejar Khairul Azman Bakar, 47; L/Kpl Mohd Azlan Sakaran, 39; and a civilian, Vivian Fabian, 34, were charged in the Tawau Magistrate’s Court with the murder of Nurman between 7.30pm and 11.30pm on Jan 13.
The court set April 11 for mention of the case and released two policemen on bail of RM20,000 and RM10,000 on another civilian. They will be prosecution witnesses.
On Jan 31, Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Idris Abdullah said the murder was motivated by jealousy and did not involve security issues in the state.
A day earlier, the victim’s ex-wife Nurima Juli, 33, was charged with the murder in an oil palm plantation near Jalan Anjur Juara, Jalan Apas, Batu 5, Tawau, between 7.30pm and 9pm on Jan 13.
Her case was fixed for mention on March 6.
