Witness: CP met with SWAT four days before the search

A defence witness has testified in court today saying that the Commissioner of Police (CP), Hussain Waheed met with the SWAT team four days before the search at the residence of the former Defence Minister Colonel-retired Mohamed Nazim.

At the hearing began at 4 p.m. at the Criminal Court today, defence witness Hussain Adam who is currently in charge of the SO, said that he was asked to prepare the a SWAT team to search the residence of the former Defence Minister Nazim four days ahead and he did so. But he was not given the details as to why.

Hussain Adam said that the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) asked to prepare a SWAT team for a “special operation” on the night of the search at the resident of the former Defence Minister. He said that he does not know the events that took place after the DCP said it was for “to search a special place for a special investigation.”

The defence lawyers asked Hussain Adam if he has to be notified when preparing the SWAT team for an operation and he responded yes. And he said that when he asked why he was not informed at a high level meeting after the operation, the reply he got was not satisfying.

Hussain Adam said that the Commissioner of Police has the authority to prepare the SWAT team for a special operation but as the person in charge of the SO police, he believes he has to be informed of the operations.

The second witness called by Nazim’s defence lawyers, the Superintendent of Police in charge of investigating the former defence minister’s case, Abdulla Shatheeh said that Nazim’s residence was searched based on secret intelligence which was believed to be true based on the credibility of the informant.

When asked if any information admissible to the case was found on Nazim’s phone which was in Police custody, Shatheeh said that no relevant information regarding the case was found on Nazim’s phone.

The defence lawyers stated that Nazim has received text messages from different people saying different things including one which says that it happened to him because he neglected to answer his phone.

Nazim’s lawyers were stopped by the judges when the pressed to ask the witness, Superintendent of Police Abdul Mannaan Yousuf regarding the information that the former defence minister could be framed.

The judges said that the lawyers cannot ask questions outside the line of questioning to the witness. And the lawyers stated that they have no more questions.

At the end of the hearing, the judges said that they have decided not to call anymore witnesses presented by the defence because they believe the witnesses presented were out of the topic.

Nazim’s lawyers have previously requested the photo of Chain of Custody and the soft copies of the evidence pictures taken at the residence of the former defence minister on the night of the search. The judges said that the photo of Chain of Custody will be given to the defence team on the next hearing along with the opportunity to speak about it. But the soft copies of the evidence photos will not be given.

The judges said that summary statement will be presented on the hearing scheduled for Wednesday