BAU: Haikal Syukri Abdullah, 31, has denied claims that he was among the victims in the terror attack at the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Breaking his silence on a rumour that circulated on social media recently, Haikal said, “It wasn’t me. I was not the victim of the mosque attack on Friday.”
The shooting incidents reported at two mosques in Christchurch had claimed 49 lives and injured dozens more.
Rumour has it that Haikal was among those injured in the attack along with Rahimi Ahmad, 39, from Penang, Mohd. Tarmizi Shuib, 42, (Kedah) and Mohamad Nazril Hisham Omar, 46, from Kelantan.
Haikal, the eldest of six siblings, was at home at Kampung Jagoi Duyoh, here, watching television when he was informed of the matter by her sister at around 8.30pm.
“She told me that I was among the four victims from Malaysia, following an image of my passport that was circulated in the social media.
“At first, I took it as a joke or probably a prank; however, after text messages and calls from my family, friends, former colleagues, including the (police) as well as unknown numbers flooded my mobile phone, I denied it,” he said when met at his residence today.
Haikal added that his relatives even came to his house to check on him.
The local farmer revealed that he had never lost any of his personal documents and that he only obtained his first passport on Feb 26 this year, following his intention to work aboard either in Australia or South Korea. However, his work and travelling visa applications were rejected.
“I applied for the visas a week after I obtained my passport.
“I do not know how the image of my passport was circulated as I have never posted a picture of it in the social media nor sent it via personal text messages to my family or even my close circle of friends,” he added.
Haikal decided to lodge a police report on the matter at Bau District Police Headquarters at 9.30pm on Friday.
Meanwhile, Haikal’s sister Lorrita Binjil, 19, said she was baffled when she saw an image of her brother’s passport with complete personal details.
“I couldn’t believe it as he was just sitting just right in front of me while watching the television,” she said adding that she saw the image of her brother’s passport from a group chat.
