On October 3, 1998 at about 9.30 p.m the police received information pertaining to a van, type Nissan Vanette C22 bearing registration number BEN 1788, being used to smuggle guns and drugs at Pengkalan Kubor, exiting from Thailand. No information was received as to the exact number of illegal guns involved, the identity of the perpetrators, their race or sex. Acting on that scanty information, the police immediately formed two teams using two vehicles.

[Page 2]

Armed with the necessary equipments, in the like of bulletproof vests, torchlights and light arms, they reconnoitered around the relevant place for sometime before stopping to lay in ambush, next to a Petronas petrol station. At about 11.40 p.m. the alleged van was spotted, and the police shadowed it. ' At no time were their vehicles marked with any police insignia.

According to the evidence adduced, the first police vehicle had overtaken the van, and after a warning of "Police!" had been given, had cut across the path of the van causing it to screech to a halt. At about the same time the other police vehicle blocked the van from the right side. It was at this juncture too that the first car had allegedly heard gunshots emanating from the direction of the van, followed by retaliatory shots from the police, after instructions to reply in kind had been issued. The exchange took place for about twenty seconds, with the police moving in towards the van, after ensuring that no movement was detected in it. In the van they found two dead passengers slumped in the van, and four dead persons [Page 3] outside it. All of them were male Indians. At the scene the police found four pieces of firearms and an assortment of bullets.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, after information has-been received of the death of a person, a police officer will immediately proceed to the scene of the corpse, and thereon shall conduct an investigation. The duty of the investigating officer includes not only the preparation of a report on the apparent cause of death, but also to obtain and supply all the necessary information connected to that death. Subsequently, the officer in charge of the police district must forthwith transmit that report, to the magistrate within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the body of the deceased was found.

The abovementioned magistrate, under section 333 of the Criminal Procedure Code, if satisfied as to the cause of death, without the necessity of holding an inquiry shall report it accordingly to the Public Prosecutor. In any other case, [Page 4] excluding an inquiry pursuant to section 339, that Magistrate shall proceed as soon as possible, to inquire when, where, how and after what manner the deceased came by his death and also whether any person was criminally concerned in the cause of the death (section 337). The latter term of cause of death under section 328 of the Criminal procedure Code, which has an extendable meaning, would include any ascertainable medical cause of death, death caused by any unlawful act, or omission on the part of any person. Precedents have also extended unusual cases to be subject to inquiries (Re Loh Kah Kheng (deceased) [1990] 1 CLJ 823; [1990] 2 CLJ 156 (Rep) ; (1990) 2 MLJ 126; PP v Muhari bin Mohd Jani & Anor (1996) 3 MLJ 116). The evidence heard will be recorded, and the Magistrate's finding likewise will thereafter be transmitted to the Public Prosecutor. He thus when holding, or not holding a death inquiry, therefore must have done so pursuant to Chapter XXXI1 of the Criminal Procedure Code (section 341 A).

[Page 5]

In this current case the learned Magistrate of Tumpat had conducted an inquiry, and came to the following conclusions on May 22, 2001:

"The Court found that the action of the police team to shoot back towards the direction of the motor van, as an act of self defence, a reasonable act which would have been undertaken by any reasonable person caught in such a situation vi