Iranian purchased tickets for stolen passport passengers, paid cash

[Holly_Hobby]

While the mystery builds over the still officially unexplained disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370, or just who the two passengers with "stolen" passports may have been although we expect a revelation on this issue shortly, the FT has added yet another twist to what is sure to be a conspiracy thriller for weeks to come: the paper reports that the Thai travel agent who booked the tickets for the men in question said that she had been asked to arrange the travel by an Iranian contact. Adding to the confusion is the revelation that originally the mysterious Iranian, known only as Mr. Ali, tried to reserve seats for the two men on separate flights not to China, but to Europe, one on a Qatar Airways flight, and the other on Etihad. And the punchline: a "friend" of Mr. Ali's paid for the tickets in cash.

...

And the final wrinkle in the story came over the weekend, when China Southern, a codeshare partner for the Malaysian Airlines flight, revealed on its Weibo page the following (google translated):

Today, Malaysia Airlines MH370 lost contact is shared by a horse fly with China Southern Airlines flight code. According to preliminary statistics, there are seven Southern Airlines passenger market square, where a Chinese nationals, two Ukrainian nationals, an Austrian, an Italian nationals, a Dutch nationals and one Malaysian. Specific circumstances still verification. After the incident, I immediately started emergency procedures and first time to contact MAS obtain real-time information. For seven passengers on the plane lost contact, we will try to help Malaysia Airlines to do follow-up work.

Two Ukrainians?

So one mysterious accident, which by now appears to almost certainly be a midair "disintegration" that has loose ends linking both Iran and Ukraine? A very unfortunate set of completely unrelated coincidences, or something far more sinister? We expect the full "story", massaged as it may ultimately be, to be revealed in the coming hours.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-10/mysterious-iranian-mr-ali-purchased-tickets-stolen-passport-passengers-paid-cash

[Scootaloo]

1. All the story needs now is circumcised pitbulls eating olive garden they snuck aboard

[Holly_Hobby]

2. Boy, ain't that the truth n/t

[Yo_Mama]

3. They were attempting illegal immigration, not terrorism.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/10688861/Mystery-fake-passport-holders-on-flight-MH370-were-Iranian.html

The friend, who knew one of the men from his school days in Iran, said the men had bought the fake passports because they wanted to migrate to Europe.
...
One of the Iranian nationals' intended final destination was Frankfurt, where his mother lives, while the other wanted to travel to Denmark.

The same source that spoke to BBC Persian also emailed CNN with a photograph of him posing with his two friends in the days before they embarked on their fateful trip.

[uppityperson]

4. Well, that's no fun. Way to cut down on the conspiracy theories going on. Seriously though

thanks for the link, was wondering when they'd come up with who they were. Those poor people.

[rdharma]

5. Riiiiight! Iranian bought the tickets.......

And the two individuals flying on the false passports have been identified by authorities as Sum Ting Wong and Ho Lee Fuk.