Official’s murder adds to missing plane saga
THE professional hit on the Malaysian Government official collecting pieces of the missing MH370 plane cannot be discounted as linked to the lost plane.
Zahid Raza, the Honorary Malaysian Consul to Madagascar, was gunned down in what was described as a “cool, professional” hit just before he took possession of two pieces of the missing plane.
Tellingly, one piece included an engine part which if officially verified would reveal the plane had crashed violently.
Two years after the shock shooting murder, when Mr Raza was on the brink of new revelations about the world’s biggest aviation mystery, it is still not known who was behind the assassination. And concerned air crash support groups say only the truth will prevent another tragedy.
Mr Raza had lived in Madagascar for years running a business incident-free. But he had received a lot of publicity about his involvement in the search for the truth about MH370 and he had been due to arrange delivery to Malaysia of the latest discovery of plane debris when he was suddenly killed only eight days after it was handed to Madagascar authorities.
His murder proved a major setback to the investigation. Police refused to release the pieces of plane debris, claiming the pieces were evidence and it was almost two years before they were finally sent to Malaysian investigators.
So far no official test results have been revealed. Planewreck hunter Blaine Gibson, who worked closely with Mr Raza, said a link to the MH370 search cannot be ruled out.
“We can’t rule it in or out,” said Mr Gibson. “The case is considered sensitive and classified by police. The indication that it could be linked really is in the timing.
“He had lived there for a long time, and then days after we hand over the debris to authorities, he is murdered.”
Mr Gibson’s comments came as News Corp exclusA ively revealed yesterday, the search for MH370 was to be resumed.
An explosive Sky News two-part documentary, to air on February 19 and 20, is set to unravel previous searches and reveal the clues that were missed that could now lead to a resolution.
MH370 was carrying 239 people when it disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. A huge search operation led by Australia lasted three years, covered thousands of miles across the Indian Ocean but found nothing.
But private searches of the coastline and islands off Africa, discovered dozens of pieces of the missing plane. Mr Gibson had arranged for the last two pieces of debris found to be given to Mr Raza, who was then to arrange their delivery to Malaysia.
The debris was an exciting find as it had been determined one of the pieces found was likely from the internal fin of the vortex generator.
Go to themercury.com.au for an exclusive look at the first five minutes of the documentary. MH370: The Untold Story airs on February 19 and 20 at 8pm. Watch or stream live on Sky News or Foxtel.