Passengers’ passports being probed
Kozel’s and Maraldi’s passports had been added to the Interpol database after their theft in 2012 and 2013 respectively. But no country had consulted the database to check either of them since they were stolen
KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK /PHU QUOC ISLAND (VIETNAM): Officials investigating the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 239 people on board suspect it may have disintegrated in mid-flight, a senior source said yesterday, as Vietnam reported a possible sighting of wreckage from the plane.
International police agency Interpol confirmed that at least two passports recorded in its database as lost or stolen were used by passengers on the flight, raising suspicions of foul play.
The Malaysian authorities said they were widening the search to cover vast swathes of sea around Malaysia and off Vietnam, and were investigating at least two passengers who were using false identity documents.
The passenger manifest issued by the airline included the names of two Europeans — Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi — who, according to their foreign ministries, were not on the plane. Both had apparently had their passports stolen in Thailand during the past two years.
Interpol maintains a vast database of more than 40 million lost and stolen travel documents, and has long urged member countries to make greater use of it to stop people crossing borders on false documents.
The global police organisation confirmed that Kozel’s and Maraldi’s passports had both been added to the database after their theft in 2012 and 2013 respectively. But it said no country had consulted the database to check either of them since the time they were stolen.
“Whilst it is too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the missing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol’s databases,” Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Thai police said they were investigating a “passport ring” as details emerged of bookings made in Thailand with stolen European passports for the vanished Malaysia Airlines flight.
Booked in Pattaya
Flight information seen by AFP shows that tickets were booked in Maraldi and Kozel’s names on March 6, 2014, and issued in the Thai city of Pattaya, a popular beach resort south of the capital Bangkok.
The e-ticket numbers for their flights are consecutive and both were paid for in Thai baht. Each ticket cost THB20,215 (US$625).
Kozel was booked to travel from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, then on to Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Maraldi was booked on the same flights until Amsterdam, from where he was to continue onwards to Copenhagen.
Interpol confirmed that “at least two passports” recorded in its stolen and lost travel documents (SLTD) database were used by passengers on board the flight, which was carrying 239 people.
“The Austrian and Italian passports were added to Interpol’s SLTD database after their theft in Thailand in 2012 and 2013 respectively,” it said in a statement.
A senior Thai police official said that authorities were probing a passport racket on the resort island of Phuket, where Maraldi’s passport was stolen.
“A police team combined with local police and immigration are working to track down a passport ring,” southern police commander Panya Mamen said.
A district official in Phuket said that Maraldi had presented himself to police there yesterday.
“An Italian tourist, Luigi Maraldi, has met southern police commander today in Phuket to say he was not on the plane and his passport had been stolen since last year,” district police lieutenant colonel Akanit Danpitaksart said.
He said they had no information on Kozel’s passport but Austrian foreign ministry spokesman, Martin Weiss, said yesterday that it had been stolen on a flight from Phuket to Bangkok.
Malaysian Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said authorities were also checking the identities of two other passengers. He said help was also being sought from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). However, an attack was only one of the possibilities being investigated.
“We are looking at all possibilities,” he said. “We cannot jump the gun. Our focus now is to find the plane.”
‘Hijacking possible’
“The outcome so far is there is no sign of the aircraft,” Malaysian civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said.
“On the possibility of hijack, we are not ruling out any possibility,” he told reporters.
The 11-year-old Boeing 777200ER, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent engines, took off at 12:40 am on Saturday (1640 GMT Friday) from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.
It last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu. Flight tracking website flightaware. com showed it flew northeast after takeoff, climbed to 35,000 ft (10,670 metres) and was still climbing when it vanished from tracking records.
There were no reports of bad weather. “What we have done is actually look into the recording on the radar that we have and we realised there is a possibility the aircraft did make a turnback,” Rodzali Daud, the Royal Malaysian Air Force chief, told reporters at a news conference.