SEPANG, March 11 — Malaysian police confirmed today that at least one of the duo who boarded MH370 with stolen passports had no link to any terrorist groups.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the identified individual is a 19-year-old Iranian named Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad who had hoped to migrate to Germany.
He told a press conference here that local police managed to get in touch with the youth’s mother, who was even aware that her son was travelling with a stolen passport.
“We have been checking his background and we have also checked with other police on his profile.
“We believe that he is not likely to be a member of any terrorist group and we believe that he is trying to migrate to Germany,” said Khalid.
Police were able to ascertain the Iranian’s identity and purpose after his mother contacted the Malaysian authorities when Pouria did not arrive in Frankfurt, Khalid added.
“We are working closely with the Iranian authorities and if you want to know how I know he wants to migrate to Germany — we are in contact with his mother.
Pouria was traveling using Austrian Christian Kozel’s passport, which was stolen two years ago in Phuket, Thailand.
The identity of the other passenger, who boarded using Italian Luigi Maraldi’s passport, is yet to ascertained, said Khalid.
He added that the duo travelled to Malaysia on February 28, for the first time, according to their biometric identification.
Khalid, however, was mum on whether the Iranian national obtained the passport from local syndicates, only divulging that the police are working closely with counterparts from all countries the MH370 passengers are from.
The Boeing 777-200 aircraft left Kuala Lumpur and was about 40 minutes into its journey to Beijing when it vanished from the skies with 239 people on board.
The aircraft was last seen on radar about 120 nautical miles from Kota Baru on Malaysia’s east coast.
Three days into its mission, a multi-country search involving 35 aircraft and 47 ships has yet to find the jumbo jet.
