Plastic explosives taken out of the police arsenal by UTK operatives will have to be accounted for with all unused amount returned to the armoury, the court hearing the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial was told today.

UTK training officer DSP MV Sri Kumar, 41, told the Shah Alam High Court that it was impossible for these plastic explosives to be taken out without his knowledge.

"I'm the only supervisor (for training). There is no possibility that any amount could be taken out," he told to questions raised by deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin.

"The officer requesting for the explosives for say 500g must return all 500g it if it is not used. If any amount is used (for training), (then) it would be different from the amount returned (to the store)," he added.

However he was quick to add that he was only talking about plastic explosives taken out for training purposes.

The witness told the court that he could not answer for other senior officers who had taken out explosives for reasons other than training.

Sri Kumar, a 16 years veteran of the Special Action Squad (UTK), is the sole training supervisor of the explosives arsenal located in Bukit Aman police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

He testified that he was in charge of looking after explosives such as plastic explosives, Claymore mines, CLCs (cutting linear charge), detonating cord and sound devices such as 'flash bang' needed for basic training.

The explosives in the UTK store, according to Sri Kumar, are all high explosives with the velocity of detonation measured at 1,000 to 9,000 metres per second.

Lessons in explosives

Sri Kumar also explained the process which UTK personnel needed to adhere to in taking out explosives from the armoury.

He said that a senior officer needed to fill in an approval form stating the amount, type and reason for the explosives before explosives are given to a team. He added that explosives are not given out to individuals but to the team leaders.

He then described as to how the plastic explosives look, stating that they were similar to pink plasticine wrapped in a shape of a block of butter, weighing 500g each.

Sri Kumar also identified chief inspector Azilah Hadri, 30, and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 35. and disclosed that both of them had no specialisation training in explosives, save for their basic training when they joined UTK.

The UTK is the elite police force tasked with carrying out covert operations like strike force operations and overt operations such as escorting the prime minister and deputy prime minister.

Sirul joined UTK in 1996, while Azilah was with unit from 2003.

The courtroom also received a lesson of how powerful plastic explosives were when Sri Kumar said approximately 50g was needed to blow the doorknob off the courtroom door during questioning by Noorin.

"It depends on the type of wood of the door but about 50g should make one foot radius hole. To blow up the door, I would use about 100g that would create a two feet radius hole," he said.

At this juncture, Noorin began asking Sri Kumar how would the plastic explosives be arranged on the door, to which judge Mohd Zaki Md Yasin asked if it was necessary.

"We are all taking basic (UTK) training (on explosives) here," he quipped which drew laughter from the packed public gallery.

CCTV footage

After Sri Kumar was discharged as witness, Hotel Malaya's operations manager Loo Mow Chan took the stand.

He identified the guest registration form filled by Altantuya when she checked in the hotel.

He also told the court how the hotel's closed circuit television (CCTV) worked.

When the court resumed after lunch, Loo testified that two police officers and a cameraman had gone to his office to seize eight to ten freeze frames of CCTV footage taken on Oct 9, 18 and 19, 2006.

The prosecution, who initially wanted to bring the judge and lawyers to Hotel Malaya to view the footage, later announced that they will be renting CCTV devices so it could be watched in court on Monday.

Citing that it was better to view the tapes before further examining Loo, the court adjourned the hearing until Monday.

Azilah, 30, and Sirul, 35, are charged with the murder of the Mongolian national while political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, 47, is charged with abetting them.

Prosecutors say Abdul Razak planned her killing and ordered two police officers to carry it out.

Altantuya was killed by "probable blast-related" injuries in a clearing in Shah Alam after she was driven away from outside Abdul Razak's house in mid-October.

No evidence has yet been introduced to describe what type of "blast" was involved.

All three face the death penalty if found guilty.