Cop under probe over missing drugs found dead

JOHOR BARU, Aug 11 — A policeman under investigation over the theft of RM1 million worth of drugs from the Johor police headquarters (IPK) was found dead with a gunshot wound in the head at an oil palm estate near Taman Setia Indah here yesterday.

Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said members of the public, who stumbled upon the body of L/Cpl Morne Aliamat, 40, at 11.40am alerted the police.

"Morne was not in uniform when his body was found. Police found a loaded semi-automatic pistol and a motorcycle parked nearby. There was a single bullet wound in his head," he told reporters.

Mohd Mokhtar said checks confirmed that Morne was attached to the IPK's anti-narcotics department and was under probe over the drugs which was found missing on July 31.

He said the case had been classified as sudden death pending further investigation and that the body had been sent for a post-mortem.

Morne had not reported for work since Aug 7 and his wife, on noticing he had also been absent from home, lodged a missing persons report at the Tampoi police station on Saturday, Mohd Mokhtar said.

"According to our records, Morne, who has four children, joined the force in January 1990 and began serving at the Johor IPK from March 16 last year," he said, adding that a full report on the incident had been submitted to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

On the missing drugs case, Mohd Mokhtar said the special task force investigating it had recorded statements from 52 people so far.

He said three policemen arrested in connection with the case but later released had been re-arrested and would be detained for 60 days under Section 3(1) of the Special Preventive Measures Act.

The missing drugs were part of RM48 million worth of drugs seized in drug busts in the state earlier this year and had been kept in the IPK's storage room.

Meanwhile, Morne's wife Jamaliah Mohd Salleh, 32, said her husband, who hailed from Sabah, had been his usual self before going missing on Thursday and had even mentioned that he would not desert the family.'

"The children kept asking for him but I told them their father was busy with his duties. I never imagined something like this could happen," said the housewife, adding that the family planned to bury him in his hometown Menumbok when his body is released.

Mohd Mokhtar had earlier visited the family at their home at the police quarters in Tampoi.

Mohd Mokhtar, when asked about Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar's remarks on Saturday that the missing drugs were believed to have fallen into foreign hands, said: "I did not hear the remarks. I will not comment on something I myself did not hear."

He added investigations into the case were going smoothly and he did not want to make comments that could jeopardise the probe.

Syed Hamid had also said that he believed the people responsible for the theft had been rewarded handsomely by certain individuals.

-TMI