The explosive used in the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibu is usually used by the military, the
High Court here was told today.
Police at the crime scene where traces of explosive material was found. |
Head of the Firearms and Detection Unit in the Criminalistic Section of
the Forensic Division, Chemistry Department in Petaling Jaya, Shaari Desa,
40, said the pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and cyclotrimethylene
trinitramine (RDX) explosives were categorised as secondary explosives.
He said the two types of explosives were very powerful and could
produce a ‘supersonic’ shock wave that could destroy the surrounding areas.
Shaari said that of the 70 case evidences that he had received, he
found traces of the two explosives on Altantuya’s hair, on a black plastic
sheet, several plastic sheets and pieces of wire recovered at the crime
scene.
“I also found PETN on the pink sample in the detonating cord and a
piece of claymore mine cable and traces of RDX on the white powder
contained in the cutting linear charge (CLC), which is also an explosive
material,” he said.
Shaari, the 40th prosecution witness, said this on the 54th day of the
trial involving two members of the Police Special Action Squad, C/Insp
Azilah Hadri, 31, and Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar, 36, who are accused of killing
Altantuya, 28, between 10pm on Oct 19, last year and 1am on the following
day, at a location in Bukit Raja, near here.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda, 47, is accused of
abetting the two police personnel. All three face the death penalty upon
conviction.
In addition, Shaari said he had also found traces of the RDX on a
cotton swab, a piece of plastic, wire cuttings and soil samples taken from
the crime scene.
Shaari, however, said he did not find any trace of the explosive on the
20 cotton swabs, four pieces of bones and rubber sheets.
“The analyses carried out showed that the three black rubber sheets
were similar, and so were the three rubber granules. The rubber sheets were
made of the same materials and there was a possibility that they were cut
off from the same source,” he said during examination-in-chief by Deputy
Public Prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin.
On the soil samples, they were analysed to determine whether the soil
taken from the vehicle was similar to the soil sample taken from the crime
scene, he said.
“The soil specimen taken from a distance of 35 metres (Z52) and the
soil sample taken at a distance of 50 metres from the crime scene (Z53)
were similar while the soil taken from the left mudflap and from the right
tyre rim of Sirul Azhar’s vehicle had no similarity and were also not
similar to the Z52 and Z53 soil samples,” he said.
Noorin: “What are the possibilities that you can give when there are
soil samples which are similar and those which are not similar?”
Shaari: “The similarity is based on the compactness of the soil
composition. In this case, it came from a location that was almost
similar.”
He said that from the analyses that he carried out, he did not find
other explosive materials used apart from the RDX and PETN.
Asked whether the equipment used were in good condition when the
analyses were carried out, Shaari said: “Yes”.
In addition, the test carried out on the HK-MP5SD sub-machinegun
revealed that the spent cartridge found in Sirul Azhar’s vehicle was the
same as the one for use by the HK-MP5SD sub-machinegun.
“As for the sub-machine gun, after being analysed, I detected gunpowder
residue in the barrel and silencer that was fixed to it, meaning that it
had been fired and the firearm had not been cleaned after it was last
fired.
“To test whether the cartridge had been fired using the firearm, I had
carried out a firing test using five live bullets and a magazine.
After making a comparison using a microscope, I found that the characteristics
found on the cartridge were similar to the characteristics found on the
five cartridges used in the firing test. Thus, I am of the view that the
cartridge had been fired using the machine-gun concerned,” he said.
Shaari said that after concluding the tests, all the evidence were
returned to investigating officer ASP Tonny Lunggan on Jan 22.
During cross-examination by Ahmad Zaidi Zainal the defence counsel
representing Sirul Azhar, Shaari said that from the test on the gunpowder
residue, he could not determine when the weapon was last fired.
The hearing before Justice Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin continues tomorrow.
