The two passengers using stolen passports on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 did not buy a return ticket.

The two men who used the stolen passports of an Austrian (Christian Kozel) and Italian (Luigi Maraldi) are believed to be Asian men, and had purchased their tickets together in Phuket for the MAS flight, which they boarded together in KL before transiting in Beijing for Amsterdam. As reported by the New York Times, the two men had no return tickets to return from Copenhagen, Denmark where Luigi’s ticket terminated and Frankfurt, Germany for Christian.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi questioned authorities in regards to the discrepancies in the passports’ names and their holders appearance.

“I am still perturbed. Can’t these immigration officials think? Italian and Austrian (passport holders) but with Asian faces.”

International law enforcers Interpol also pointed out that the stolen passports used were flagged in its database and are perplexed as to how authorities had failed to check this.

According to the Malay Mail, “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 papers.”

“If Malaysia Airways (sic) and all airlines worldwide were able to check the passport details of prospective passengers against Interpol’s database, then we would not have to speculate whether stolen passports were used by terrorists to board MH 370,” Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble said in a statement.

Investigations into the disappearance of the plane included the possibility that the plane was destroyed in mid-air. This was reported by Reuters, citing other sources.

The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation and other US law-enforcement agencies have offered to help with investigations.

Story and quote from: The Malay Mail

Read more on MH370: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: What We Know So Far