Questions over mystery death in custody of Johor man linked to firearms

Malay Mail
by JOSEPH SIPALAN

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — The family of a 25-year-old man in Johor who died while under police custody demanded today the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar explain the questionable circumstances leading to the tragedy, highlighting an autopsy report of blunt force as the cause of death.

Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, who is acting as counsel for the family of Syed Mohd Azlan Syed Mohamed Nur, said the police have not even informed the family as to why the victim was arrested nor did they explain how he ended up in the Kota Tinggi hospital morgue on November 3.

“We don’t know when he was detained or what was the reason. Based on what the father said, it appears to be related to firearms, but there has been no explanation,” he said at a news conference here.

According to the family’s account, Syed Mohd Azlan was last seen when he left their family home in Pengerang, Johor at around 9pm on November 2 to go shopping.

His father, Syed Mohamad Nur Ali, 67, said the police later came banging on his front door at 5am the next day, demanding to be let in to search their house.

Syed Mohamed claimed that no warrant was produced, and was only told after asking officers involved in the raid that they were looking for firearms.

The farmer said he legally owns a shotgun to protect his crops, and that he kept it in a strongbox under lock and key, adding that he owned no other firearms.

Recounting the events of that fateful day, Syed Mohamed said he was also summoned at 6am on November 3 to give a statement at the Sungai Renggit police station, where he believes his son was detained in a meeting room but denied permission to meet him.

It was only later in the afternoon at around 1pm when police told him that his son had died and his body kept at the Kota Tinggi hospital.

Gobind said a post mortem, carried out at the Sultan Ismail Specialist Hospital in Johor Bahru, found that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the chest.

The Puchong MP for DAP said he will write to Khalid giving him 14 days from today to give a full explanation as to what happened in Syed Mohd Azlan’s case, failing which they will proceed to raise the matter with the Attorney-General (AG) seeking an inquest.

Should they also fail to get the AG to launch an inquest, the family would then have no choice but to file a civil suit against those responsible for Syed Mohd Azlan’s death, he noted.

“The police didn’t even come to meet the father. We will continue to push this until something is done... those responsible must be brought to justice,” Gobind said.