Kampong Ayer

Stop and Search - 15 December - the Jimmy

As Force Intelligence Officer, Captain Oakley worked closely with the local police. We received information that some rebel sympathisers may have gone to ground in the township on stilts across the lagoon; in particular the rebel leader Azahari, who, it was established, had not been at Limbang. 

We had been joined by Houghton (under the temporary command of her First Lieutenant Martin Griffiths) and Dartington (Lieutenant Commander Andrew Marx). A large scale operation was set up with the local police. The minesweepers together with every launch surrounded the town before first light. 

Painstakingly every house was searched and every inhabitant was checked. As a sign that they had been cleared, each citizen was stamped on the back of the hand by the rubber stamp  which I used for daily orders. 

We didn’t find Azahari, and the police did not return my rubber stamp