VAT 69/UTK - Missions

Missions

Its first counter-terrorism mission, which is one of the most well-known and which established the unit's reputation as an elite unit, was an operation known as "Operasi Subuh"/"Operasi Khas 304" (Operations Dawn/Special Operation 304). It was carried out on 3 July 2000 against Al-Ma'unah terrorists who had stolen 94 M16 rifles, 2 Steyr AUG rifles, 4 General Purpose Machineguns (GPMG), 6 Light Machineguns (LMG), 5 M203 grenade launchers, 26 bayonet daggers and thousands of ammunition rounds from 2 control posts of the Rejimen Askar Wataniah (Territorial Army Regiment) camp in Kuala Rui, Perak and captured 2 police officers, one army special forces soldier and one villager as hostages and planned to commit treason against a democratically elected government.

In the dawn of 5 July 2000, police and military units created a distraction, while members of the PGK, accompanied by the 22nd Grup Gerak Khas led by Malaysian armed forces senior officer Lt. Gen. (R) Zaini Mohamad Said and 69th Commando PGK leader ASP Abd Razak Bin Mohd Yusof were sent to Sauk to negotiate with the Al-Ma'unah leader, Mohamed Amin Bin Mohamed Razali.

Amin, along with his comrades were persuaded to drop their arms and surrender to the security forces. Although most of the group initially surrendered, negotiations eventually broke down and a bloody gunfight ensued. In these incidents, 2 of the 4 hostages were killed before the group finally surrendered. The security forces team suffered two casualties – police Special Branch officer Detective Corporal R. Sanghadevan and Trooper Matthew anak Medan from 22nd GGK were tortured before they were killed and was buried by 2 other hostages, Sargeant (R) Mohd Shah Ahmad and civilian Jaafar Puteh, in the jungle before they were both rescued by security forces. Abdul Halim Ali @ Ahmad, a member of the militant group, was shot dead in the gunfighting and five others were injured, including two seriously. The other 22 were taken into police custody. Mohamed Amin, Zahit Muslim, Jemari Jusoh and Jamaludin Darus were later sentenced to death and the other 16 were sentenced to life imprisonment. 10 more comrades, Megat Mohamed Hanafi Ilias, Muhamad Nukhshah Bandi Che Mansor, Riduan Berahim, Azlan Abdul Ghani, Shahidi Ali and Khairul Anuar Mohamed Ariffin, were sentenced by the High Court to ten years in jail each after pleading guilty to an alternative charge under Section 122 for preparing to wage war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong after they pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.