News: Update: Thai police doubt terror link to stolen passports on missing Malaysian plane

Thai police suspect two men travelling on stolen passports on a Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared on Saturday were not involved in terrorism but instead evidence was suggesting they could have been asylum seekers.
Interpol confirmed on Sunday that at least two passengers on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing used passports stolen in Thailand within the last two years leading to speculation that the plane had been attacked.

Thai police and foreign police investigators have been questioning two travel agents in the resort city of Pattaya, where the tickets were bought for the two men who boarded the flight using the stolen passports.
We haven't ruled it out but the weight of evidence we're getting swings against the idea that these men are or were involved in terrorism," Pattaya chief of police Supachai Puikaewcome told Reuters on Tuesday.
Both of the tickets, bought for the travellers by two Iranians, were for travel on from Beijing to Europe at the cheapest price, Supachai said.
"Judging by the ticket booking alone, if it was terrorism they would have specified the route and the plane they wanted to take. Instead, they asked for the most cost-effective ticket and did not specify the route or the airline."

Amid the multitude of questions about the fate of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, one small part of the story became clearer Tuesday when police said they have identified one of the passengers who used a stolen passport to board the plane. And it's unlikely, they said, that he was part of a terrorist group.
He is a 19-year-old Iranian man, named Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, who was trying to emigrate to Germany, said Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar of the Royal Malaysian Police.
The use of the stolen passports by two passengers on the plane, which vanished from the skies early Saturday, raised fears that its disappearance could be linked to terrorism.
But Khalid said authorities don't think the young Iranian posed a threat.
"We have been checking his background. We have also checked him with other police organizations of his profile and we believe that he is not likely to be a member of any terrorist group," Khalid said.
After he failed to arrive in Frankfurt, the final destination of his ticket, his mother contacted authorities, Khalid said. According to ticketing records, the ticket to Frankfurt was booked under a stolen Austrian passport.
Authorities are still investigating the identity of the other passenger who used a stolen passport.

The bigger piece of the puzzle
The identification of one of the men helps peel away a thin layer of the mystery surrounding the passenger jet, which disappeared about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
But in the bigger puzzle of the missing plane's whereabouts, there were no reports of progress Tuesday.
Every lead that has raised hopes of tracing the commercial jet and the 239 people on board has so far petered out.
The challenge facing those involved in the huge, multinational search is daunting; the area of sea they are combing is vast.
And they still don't know if they're looking in the right place.

"As we enter into Day 4, the aircraft is yet to be found," Malaysia Airlines said in a statement today Tue Mar.11.

19-year-old Iranian man, named Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad