Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

Kota Kinabalu: A police officer told the Coroner’s Court on Thursday that some of the 15 mobile phones analysed in the inquest of Zara Qairina Mahathir contained deleted information that could be extracted using XRY software, although some data could not be recovered.

Computer Crime Investigation Unit analyst ASP Mohd Zaidi Abu Hassan, who has 19 years of experience, said he used the XRY software to analyse devices for contacts, images, videos, WhatsApp, SMS and social media data, including from memory cards and SIM cards.

He said deleted data could be extracted from iPhones but not from Android devices, adding that some phones produced data while others did not, and that he extracted whatever the software was able to retrieve without focusing on specific information.

Mohd Zaidi told the court that all exhibits were received in good condition except for three items, and that he first checked whether the phones were functioning and password-protected before connecting them to a computer for data extraction.

He said the first submission received on Aug 8, 2025 was analysed on Aug 11 over six days involving 11 phones, while the second submission received on Aug 19 was analysed on Aug 20 over three days involving four units, adding that all exhibits were secured in a locked cabinet accessible only to him to ensure integrity.