Siti Aisyah’s handphone has North Korean man’s photograph, says IO
SHAH ALAM: A senior investigating officer ( IO) told the High Court here yesterday that a North Korean man, Ri Ji- u, whose photograph was found in the mobile phone belonging to Siti Aisyah, an accused in Kim Chol or Kim Jong-nam’s murder, might still be in the country.
ASP Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz who is based at Sepang/ KLIA district police headquarters, agreed with Siti Aisyah’s counsel Gooi Soon Seng that Ri Ji could possibly be in Malaysia as he had never traced the movement of the man.
The ninth prosecution witness however replied, “I don’t know” when the lawyer proposed to him that Ri Ji entered the country from Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Jan 21, on a Malaysia Airlines flight.
He was testifying at the trial which entered its 16th day today of Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28.
The duo are accused of killing Kim Chol, with four others still at large at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 ( klia2), Sepang, at 9am on Feb 13. Siti Aisyah’s mobile phone contained two images of Ri Ji, which showed him at Kuala Lumpur City Centre ( KLCC) and Kuala Lumpur International Airport ( KLIA).
On the US$ 38,000 ( RM160,626) that was found in a condominium, Wan Azirul Nizam testified that the occupant, Ri Jong-chol, a North Korean who was then a suspect in the case, said in a recorded statement that the money was from four North Korean men.
The witness recalled the name of one of the four men as Kim Chunhui and could not remember the names of the other three.
“He (Ri Jong) received the money in October 2016 to buy ‘mee lembut’ (soft-textured noodles) to send to North Korea. I did not investigate further,” he said, adding that the man had been renting the unit since May 19, 2015 at RM1,700 monthly.
Wan Azirul Nizam said Ri Jong would pay cash to the landlord who would come to the condominium to get the money from him. The trial continues today before justice Datuk Azmi Ariffin. — Bernama