Altantuya killer living with son, relative near Brisbane before arrest, says report

Former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar was detained in Australia a day after Interpol issued a red notice for him. – Interpol screenshot, January 24, 2015.

Convicted killer Sirul Azhar Umar was living west of Brisbane with his son and another relative before he was picked up by Australian immigration officials on Tuesday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported today.

Sirul entered Australia in October last year with a valid passport and tourist visa and lived with his 19-year-old son and relative in Ipswich, Queensland.

The 43-year-old was absent when the Federal Court in Kuala Lumpur last week delivered the verdict that he and and Azilah Hadri were guilty of murdering Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.

Both were former police commandos, part of a special unit that guards top ministers.

Evidence in court revealed that Altantuya, a Mongolian translator, was murdered before her body was blown up by C4 explosives on October 18, 2006, in the outskirts of Shah Alam, near the capital city Kuala Lumpur.

Former political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, a confidante of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was charged with abetting Azilah and Sirul but was acquitted by the High Court in 2008 without his defence being called. The government did not appeal.

Malaysia had reportedly made a formal request to extradite Sirul back home but Australian media said extradition was unlikely as Canberra forbids repatriating suspects facing the death penalty.

Sirul was detained by Australian authorities a day after Interpol issued a red notice for Sirul, following his conviction.

ABC reported that he has been transferred to the highest security section of Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre.

The broadcaster said Sirul had not spoken to his family or seen his lawyer since his detention.

However, the New Straits Times reported yesterday that the Australian authorities released Sirul with conditions attached and that his movements in the country were also being monitored.

"His passport is being held, but Australian Immigration released him on certain conditions, including having to come forward if required by the authorities there," a Wisma Putra spokesman told the NST.

Facebook user Shuk Sz, who claimed to be the former police corporal's son, said in a recent post: "If I talk to the press, Malaysia will fall."

"The PM will also fall," he wrote. The Facebook account has since been deleted, ABC said.

Sirul's lawyer Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin told the ABC that he would be filing an application to the Federal Court to have the conviction reviewed and would fight any extradition request from Malaysia.

"I have the mandate of my client to take any and every legal means to challenge the extradition," he was quoted as saying.

"The perennial question seems to be: why would (Sirul Azhar) murder the victim?"

The ABC reported the lawyer as saying that the prosecution had never called several key witnesses during the original trial, giving rise to speculation that there was political interference in the case.

"It raises questions as to what really is going on," he was reported as saying.

- TMI