CCTV of the men using stolen passports. Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad is on the left. Image: BBC
A 19 year old Iranian asylum seeker has been ruled out as a terrorist after he was found to be traveling on one of the stolen passports aboard the missing Malaysian jet, flight MH370.
The man is reported to be seeking asylum in Germany and was travelling with another man whose status has not yet been clarified.
Inspector General of Police Khalid Tan Sri said: “To date we have uncovered two passengers which was travelling on a stolen passport.
“We have identified one of them. And this one that we have identified is an Iranian by the name of Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad.
“He is 19 years old, and he is an Iranian – we believe that he is an Iranian. We have been checking his background.
Azharuddin Abdul Rahman provides an update on the search
“We have also checked him with other police organisation on his profile, and 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.”
The search area for the jet has been widened, and a multi-national search and rescue operation is ongoing. Experts are confounded as to why no communication was received from the plane, and why, if it crashed into the ocean, there is no wreckage.
The black box flight recorders fitted into aircraft are designed to automatically transmit a signal if they come into contact with water.
Yesterday experts in detecting nuclear detonations were asked to check for signs of explosions at around the time the flight disappeared. Their findings, if any, have not yet been made public.