11 jihadists arrested on suspicion of involvement in disappearance of MH370

[aris2chat]

More speculation or solid lead? Most press seem to have pass on the story

11 jihadists arrested on suspicion of involvement in disappearance of MH370
Robert Spencer

UPDATE 8:31AM May 4: Malaysia’s Inspector-General of Police says the arrests of these eleven jihadis were not related to the disappearance of the plane. The Malaysian government has behaved so oddly in this whole affair, so closemouthed and contradictory, that it is impossible to know what is true at this point.

———-

Maybe these arrests will lead to the discovery of the plane, and to the revelation of what really happened when it disappeared. Note also the unexplained cargo — it would seem likely that whatever was in there was tied to the plane’s disappearance, and may be involved in its reappearance if it is somewhere being prepared to play a part in a future jihad attack.

“Eleven terrorists with links to Al Qaeda have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the disappearance of MH370,” Daily Mail, May 3, 2014 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

A group of 11 terrorists with links to Al Qaeda were yesterday being interrogated on whether they are behind the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The suspects were arrested in the capital Kuala Lumpur and in the state of Kedah last week and are members of a violent new terror group said to be planning bomb attacks in Muslim countries.

The interrogations come after international investigators, including the FBI and MI6, asked for the militants, whose ages range from 22 to 55 and include students, odd-job workers, a young widow and business professionals, to be questioned intensively about Flight MH370.

Nearly two months after the Beijing-bound plane vanished soon after take-off from Kuala Lumpur, no trace has been found despite a huge sea search costing hundreds of millions of pounds. It is thought to have crashed into the Indian Ocean with 239 people on board.

An officer with the Counter Terrorism Division of Malaysian Special Branch said yesterday the arrests had heightened suspicion that the flight’s disappearance may have been an act of terrorism.

‘The possibility that the plane was diverted by militants is still high on the list and international investigators have asked for a comprehensive report on this new terror group,’ the officer said.

In interviews conducted so far, some suspects have admitted planning ‘sustained terror campaigns’ in Malaysia but denied being involved in the disappearance of the airliner, he added.

Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law, Saajid Badat, a British-born Muslim from Gloucester, said he had been instructed at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan to give a shoe bomb to the Malaysians...................

 

[waltky]

Splash from airliner impact may have been detected by underwater microphones...

MH370: Indian Ocean crash may have been heard by underwater microphones
Wednesday 4 June 2014 ~ Curtin University in Western Australia says analysis shows a possibility, albeit slim, that listening devices picked up impact

Deep-sea microphones picked up an intense sound that may have been Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 crashing into the Indian Ocean, Australian researchers have announced – while stressing that the likelihood of a connection to the plane could be as low as 10% and a natural event like an earthquake might also have been the source. Scientists from Curtin University in Western Australia gave a highly cautious account on Wednesday after analysing low-frequency noises picked up by a combination of underwater sensors – some set up by the UN to monitor for nuclear tests, and others put in place for Australian research purposes.

The Malaysian Airliner went missing almost three months ago on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Satellite signals point to the plane having gone down in the Indian Ocean but a massive international search effort led by Australia has turned up nothing. Underwater sound recorders from Curtin University’s Centre of Marine Science, placed about 40km off Rottnest Island, picked up a signal on 8 March that may have represented a "high-energy event" around the time the plane was thought to have crashed, said Dr Alec Duncan, a senior research fellow at the centre.

A candlelit vigil is held at a school in China for those who were on board MH370.

The signal was matched with another underwater listening station, run by the United Nations' Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), off Cape Leeuwin, the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australia. “Soon after the aircraft disappeared scientists at CTBTO analysed data from their underwater listening stations south-west of Cape Leeuwin and in the northern Indian Ocean,” he said. That initially did not turn up anything of interest, Duncan said.

When the search for MH70 swung to the southern Indian Ocean scientists from Curtin decided to retrieve their acoustic recorders from west of Rottnest Island, to be checked against the CTBTO's earlier data, Duncan said. “Data from one of the IMOS recorders showed a clear acoustic signal at a time that was reasonably consistent with the information relating to the disappearance of MH370," he said. The CTBO analysis was rechecked and revealed a signal "almost buried in the background noise but consistent with what was recorded on the IMOS recorder off Rottnest”, Duncan said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

New search area for MH370 determined...

Australia: New analysis backs search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
December 2, 2015 Australian authorities said Thursday that new analysis confirms they've likely been searching in the right place for a missing Malaysian airliner. Searchers have been combing a 46,000-square-mile part of the Indian Ocean since last year but have yet to turn up any trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The only confirmed wreckage of Flight 370 to be recovered was a wing flap found on a remote Indian Ocean island in July. The new analysis by an agency of the Defence Department confirmed "the highest probability" the final resting place for the plane is within the current search area, the government said in a statement.

This map shows the currents between where Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went off the radar and where the debris was found.​

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the new analysis pointed to the aircraft most likely coming to rest in the southern part of the current search area, so searchers would focus on that location and slightly widen the boundaries of the search area there. The Boeing 777 vanished with 239 people aboard on March 8, 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. Authorities are baffled by how and why it disappeared.

The current seabed search more than 1,100 miles southwest of Australia began in October last year. Ships using side-scan sonar and an underwater drone fitted with a video camera have so far scoured more than 27,000 square miles of rugged terrain. The search area is based on analysis of scant satellite information that tracked the final hours of Flight 370.

Australia: New analysis backs search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says, "Ow! - bet dat hurt...

Sonar vehicle searching for MH370 hits volcano, lost at ocean bottom
Jan. 25, 2016 -- A deep-sea sonar vehicle searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been lost after colliding with a submerged volcano in the Indian Ocean.

The sonar vehicle -- known as a towfish -- collided with a 2,200-meter mud volcano on Sunday. The vehicle and 4,500-meter cable attaching it to the Fugro Discovery search vessel are now on the ocean floor. Australia has been leading the search for MH370 at the request of the Malaysian government. Fugro, a Dutch company that provides deep-sea surveys, later received a contract to join the search.

A deep-sea sonar vehicle searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been lost after colliding with a submerged volcano in the Indian Ocean. Australia has been leading the search for MH370 at the request of the Malaysian government. Fugro, a Dutch company that provides deep-sea surveys, later received a contract to join the search.​

The Boeing 777 disappeared March 8, 2014, after leaving Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, en route to Beijing with 239 people on board. During the flight, the plane veered off course over the Indian Ocean between Malaysia and Vietnam. Investigators are unsure why the plane went off route. "The towfish collided with a mud volcano which rises 2,200 meters from the seafloor resulting in the vehicle's tow cable breaking. The towfish and 4,500 meters of cable became separated from the vessel and are now resting on the seafloor," the Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Center said in a statement. "There were no injuries to crew and it is believed it will be possible to recover the towfish at a later date."

Meanwhile, a curved barnacle-encrusted piece of metallic debris weighing more than 200 pounds found Saturday on a beach in Thailand has been identified as likely a piece from a Japanese H-2 rocket -- not from MH370 -- due to the placement of bolts and numbers etched on it resembling the rocket's honeycomb launch fairing. "It is very likely that the debris which has been discovered in Thailand is part of a rocket which [Mitsubishi Heavy Industries] launched from Japan in the past," Kengo Tatsukawa, public relations manager for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, told VOA News. Malaysian officials and a Thai aviation team will head to the Nakhon Si Thammarat province where it was found to inspect and collect the metal debris.

Sonar vehicle searching for MH370 hits volcano, lost at ocean bottom

 

[waltky]

More MH370 debris washes up on shore...

US official: Debris from same type of plane as MH370
Mar 2,`16 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Debris that washed up in Mozambique has been tentatively identified as a part from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

Photos of the debris that washed up over the weekend appear to show the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. MH-370, which disappeared two years ago with 239 people aboard, is the only known missing 777. People who have handled the part, called a horizontal stabilizer, say it appears to be made of fiberglass composite on the outside, with aluminum honeycombing on the inside, the official said. The part is being transported to Malaysia.

Mozambique's National Director of Civil Aviation Joao Abreu dismissed the report, saying authorities have found no part of the missing plane. But Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai tweeted to confirm the discovery. "Based on early reports, high possibility debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777," Liow said in a series of tweets. "It is yet to be confirmed & verified. @dca-malaysia working w Australian counterparts to retrieve the debris." He also urged "everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to #mh370 at this time."

A school utility worker mops a mural depicting the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 at the Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino High School campus at Makati city east of Manila, Philippines. A U.S. official says debris washed up over the weekend in Mozambique has been tentatively identified by experts close to the investigation as a part from the tail of the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370​

MH-370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 12 crew members and 227 passengers on board. Despite exhaustive searches of the southern Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, the only trace of the plane until now has been a wing part known as flaperon that washed ashore last July on the French island of Reunion off the east coast of Africa - about 2,300 miles from the current search area in the Indian Ocean east of Australia.

Radar tracking of the plane show it turned around as it approached Vietnamese airspace, flew back toward Malaysia and then on over the Indian Ocean, where radar contact was lost. Authorities who scrutinized data exchanged between the plane's engine and a satellite determined that the jetliner took a straight path across the ocean, leading them to believe that the plane flew on autopilot for hours before running out of fuel and crashing into the water.

News from The Associated Press

 

[waltky]

Chinese families upset over decision to end search for MH370...

Chinese relatives of Flight 370 passengers protest over search decision
Saturday 30th July, 2016 - About two dozen Chinese relatives of passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have staged a small protest outside China's Foreign Ministry, calling on governments to continue searching for the plane.

The families gathered outside the ministry in Beijing and demanded to see the foreign minister to submit a petition to him saying that last week's decision to suspend the search was irresponsible. China, Australia and Malaysia announced last week that the more than two-year-long hunt for the missing plane would be suspended once the current search area in the Indian Ocean has been completely scoured, something expected by the end of the year.

People hold signs protesting over the handling of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 outside China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing​

In Beijing, several of the relatives held up hand-written signs calling for the search to be continued and asked to meet Chinese officials involved in last week's decision. "Since these people spent the money of Chinese taxpayers to represent Chinese relatives to attend the meeting, they are obliged to see us," said Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane. He said their request for a meeting had been rejected. "We will continue to demand the meeting because we want to know the most accurate information of what was going on in that meeting" between Chinese, Australian and Malaysian officials who discussed the fate of the search, he said.

The Boeing 777 vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 2014. It is believed to have turned back west and then south before dropping into the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where the search has been concentrated. Much of what happened to the plane remains a mystery, although many suspect that it was deliberately steered off course. Officials have said the search, hampered by bad weather and damaged equipment, will end by December. The protest came on the day Australian officials announced that a wing part found last month on an East African island most likely came from the missing plane.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Wing Part Found on Mauritius Confirmed to Be From Missing MH370...

Missing MH370: Wing Part Found on Mauritius Confirmed to Be From Jet
Oct 7 2016 — A piece of an aircraft wing found on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has been identified as belonging to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Malaysian and Australian officials said Friday.

The piece of wing flap was found in May and subsequently analyzed by experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the search for the plane in a remote stretch of ocean off Australia's west coast. Investigators used a part number found on the debris to link it to the missing Boeing 777, the agency said in a statement. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai also confirmed the identification.

A trailing edge section of a Boeing 777 from Flight MH370, according to a report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.​

Several pieces of wreckage from the plane have washed ashore on coastlines around the Indian Ocean since the aircraft vanished with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8, 2014. So far, none of the debris has helped narrow down the precise location of the main underwater wreckage. Investigators need to find that in order to locate the flight data recorders that could help explain why the plane veered so far off-course.

Search crews are expected to finish their sweep of the 46,000 square mile search zone in the Indian Ocean by December. Oceanographers have been analyzing wing flaps found in Tanzania and on the French island of La Reunion to see if they might be able to identify a potential new search area through drift modeling. But any new search would require more funding; Malaysia, Australia and China said in July that the $160 million hunt will be suspended once the current stretch of ocean is exhausted unless new evidence emerges that would pinpoint a specific location of the aircraft.

Wing fragment found on Mauritius is from missing MH370, investigators say

 

[waltky]

Missing flight MH370 ‘found’ on Google Earth riddled with bullet holes...

Missing flight MH370 ‘found’ on Google Earth riddled with bullet holes, crash investigation expert claims
Mar 18, 2018 - Images have emerged showing what could be the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and it’s covered in bullet holes, an expert has claimed.

The Google Earth pictures show what appears to be the outline of the plane, which vanished along with 239 passengers and crew, under the surface of waters just north of Mauritius. Australian amateur crash investigator Peter McMahon has spent years poring over NASA and Google Maps images since the plane disappeared in the Indian Ocean four years ago and claims he now thinks he has found it. He believes the aircraft is 10 miles south of small islet Round Island – an area not included in the search operation by experts.

Mr McMahon said he sent his findings to the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau, which confirmed it could be the missing craft. But he claims they were then told by US officials to stick to the assigned area of the Indian Ocean. Could this be part of the front cabin of missing MH370 in waters south of Rodrigues Island?Mr McMahon, 64, told Daily Star Online: “Four Americans were sent to Australia to oversee the findings of MH370. “They have made sure that all information received has been hidden from the public, even our government – but why?”

He said authorities “do not want it found as it’s full of bullet holes, finding it will only open another inquiry.” According to reports, along with the main section, Mr McMahon claims to have found part of the front cabin in waters south of Rodrigues Island, also near Mauritius. Mr McMahon, a mechanical engineer, as spent 25 years working on crash investigations. Search teams have never found the bodies of the missing passengers and crew.

Earlier this year Malaysia’s government approved US-company Ocean Infinity to dispatch a vessel to search more than 9.000 sq m of Australian waters for the missing Boeing 777. Its exact location has never been known. Debris was found by volunteers clearing a beach in St Andre, Reunion in 2015 and Australia released satellite imagery in 2017 showing 12 objects floating near the suspected crash site.

Missing flight MH370 ‘found’ on Google Earth riddled with bullet holes, crash investigation expert claims – Nehanda Radio

 

[irosie91]

what is the conjecture that explains "bullet holes"?