KUALA LUMPUR: Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the experienced Malaysia Airlines (MAS) pilot who flew the missing jetliner MH370, is believed to be solely responsible for diverting the Boeing 777 hundreds of miles off-course, an investigator said.
No one on board had aviation experience like the 53-year-old, the unnamed official claimed in the USA Today report this evening, not even his co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, a 27-year-old who was relatively new to handling the wide-body jet.
But Zaharie’s intentions are still yet unknown, as the police have not found any links between the 53-year-old to any terror group or any possible personal financial problem that he may have had to have forcefully plunged the plane, and the rest of its 238 people, to their deaths.
The USA Today story, which was also picked up by Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, did not name the official interviewed, but said that he or she is a “high-ranking officer attached to a special investigative branch of the Malaysia police force”.
The article noted that investigators are now pressing for information from Zaharie’s relatives, hoping to find information that may shed light on the mystery of MH370’s disappearance.
The unnamed official also reportedly refuted reports that Zaharie had received a phone call moments before the flight departed.
According to media reports, the phone call had come from a woman who used a false name to obtain the SIM card to make the call.
“He said as far as investigators knew, he did not receive a phone call to his cellphone at that time,” USA Today’s report said, citing the official.
Earlier today, several media organisations quoted Zaharie’s youngest son Ahmad Seth as breaking his silence after several reports appeared to suggest some fault on his father’s part in how MH370 went down.
The youth discounted the possibility that his father had deliberately downed the plan, saying: “I’ve read everything online. But I’ve ignored all the speculation. I know my father better”.
“We may not be close as he travels so much. But I understand him.”
The 26-year-old’s words were published in local English daily The News Straits Times.
In a Reuters report earlier today, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey reportedly said that he expects his agency to wrap up its probe of Zaharie’s home-built flight simulator within the next one or two days.
“I have teams working really around the clock to exploit that. I don’t want to say more about that in an open setting, but I expect it to be done fairly shortly. Within a day or two we will finish that work,” he was quoted saying.
The police have been ordered to dig deeper into the backgrounds of the 12 crew and 227 passengers after Malaysian authorities confirmed that the doomed MH370’s communications had been deliberately disabled before the Boeing 777-200ER swerved left from its eastward route to Beijing.
On March 15, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak confirmed that authorities believe the jetliner’s movements had been “deliberate” and handled by someone on board.
The same day, the police searched Zaharie’s and co-pilot Fariq’s houses, where they had recovered a self-built flight simulator, among other items, from the former’s home.
Malaysia then sent the home-made flight simulator to the FBI in the US to retrieve and analyse the deleted data.
Last Wednesday, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein reminded the public that all 239 people on board MH370 remain innocent until proven guilty.
Malaysia law enforcement officials previously informed the US counterparts that nothing suspicious was found on the personal computers of Zaharie and Fariq.
- The Malay Mail
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