TWO men were arrested in the fatal shooting of a soldier on a jungle training exercise in the district of Song in the Kapit division central Sarawak on Monday, police said.
Police also confiscated a shotgun that was believed to have been used in the incident.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Mancha Ata said a special investigation team picked up the two suspects, aged 31, at 6 pm yesterday.
The “random shooting” took place at about 2.45 am on Monday and the soldier succumbed to his injuries at 7.43 am the same day.
Mancha said the arrests were made based on their initial investigations and information provided by the public.
He said the shotgun did not belong to any of the two suspects. The licence holder is the father of one of the men.
The two suspects also did not have a permit to carry a firearm.
Both suspects are local Song residents and were on an “illegal” hunting trip in the forest at Jalan Multi-Pass Link in Song where the soldiers had laid up for the night.
Mancha said the one who pulled the trigger thought the soldier, in the predawn darkness, was a wild animal.
On hearing a man's cries, the two fled in panic on a motorcycle.
An autopsy on the soldier found he died from severe shotgun wounds to the waist, back of his body and on his left thigh.
The soldier, identified as Corporal Petrus Liman, 29, was from the 3rd battalion, Royal Rangers Regiment (3RRD) stationed at Kem Oya in Sibu.
He was first rushed to the nearby Song Health Clinic before he was rushed to Kapit Hospital some 40km away.
The incident is being investigated under section 302 of the Penal Code for murder. - September 25, 2024
