Interpol confirmed that at least two stolen passports used by passengers on the plane were registered in its databases. It said no one had checked the databases, but added that most airlines and countries do not usually check for stolen passports. YOU WOULD THINK THAT AFTER 9/11 THEY SHOULD CHECK EVERY DETAIL? HOW CAN YOU PASS OVER TWO STOLEN PASSPORTS? TERRORISTS USING STOLEN PASSPORTS ARE GETTING ON THE AIRPLANES STUPID abclocal.go/kabc/story?section=news/world_news&id=9459842 Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said pilots are supposed to inform the airline and traffic control authorities if the plane does a U-turn. From what we have, there was no such distress signal or distress call per se, so we are equally puzzled, he said. Authorities were checking on the identities of the two passengers who boarded the plane with stolen passports. On Saturday, the foreign ministries in Italy and Austria said the names of two citizens listed on the flights manifest matched the names on two passports reported stolen in Thailand. I can confirm that we have the visuals of these two people on CCTV, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said at a news conference late Sunday, adding that the footage was being examined. We have intelligence agencies, both local and international, on board. Hishammuddin declined to give further details, saying it may jeopardize the investigation. Our focus now is to find the aircraft, he said, adding that finding the plane would make it easier for authorities to investigate any possible foul play. Interpol confirmed that at least two stolen passports used by passengers on the plane were registered in its databases. It said no one had checked the databases, but added that most airlines and countries do not usually check for stolen passports. Hishammuddin said only two passengers had used stolen passports, and that earlier reports that the identities of two others were under investigation were not true. White House Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said the U.S. was looking into the stolen passports, but that investigators had reached no conclusions. In addition to the planes sudden disappearance, which experts say is consistent with a possible onboard explosion, the stolen passports have strengthened concerns about terrorism as a possible cause. Al-Qaida militants have used similar tactics to try and disguise their identities. Still, other possible causes would seem just as likely at this stage, including a catastrophic failure of the planes engines, extreme turbulence, or pilot error or even suicide. Establishing what happened with any certainty will need data from flight recorders and a detailed examination of any debris, something that will take months if not years. European authorities on Saturday confirmed the names and nationalities of the two stolen passports: One was an Italian-issued document bearing the name Luigi Maraldi, the other Austrian under the name Christian Kozel. Police in Thailand said Maraldis passport was stolen on the island of Phuket last July. A telephone operator on a China-based KLM hotline on Sunday confirmed that Maraldi and Kozel were both booked to leave Beijing on a KLM flight to Amsterdam on March 8. Maraldi was then to fly to Copenhagen, Denmark, on KLM on March 8, and Kozel to Frankfurt, Germany, on March 8. She said since the pair booked the tickets through China Southern Airlines, she had no information on where they bought them. Having onward reservations to Europe from Beijing would have meant the pair, as holders of EU passports, would not have needed visas for China. Meanwhile, the multinational search for the missing plane was continuing. A total of 34 aircraft and 40 ships have been deployed to the area by Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, China and the United States, in addition to Vietnams fleet.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 06:36:55 +0000