MH370: No disciplinary action against the immigration officers in the stolen passports issue

No disciplinary action will be taken against the four Immigration officers who had inspected and allowed the two carrying stolen passport to board the MH370.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahamd Zahid Hamidi said all the officers on duty had followed the standard operating and procedure (SOP), set by the Immigration Department.

He told a press conference in Cheras that however, internal investigations are being carried out on the four officers.

An investigating team was formed by the Immigration Department following the discovery that the two men had falsely used the identities of one Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi. Both claimed that they did not board the plane.

Kozel and Maraldi had previously reported their passports stolen in Thailand, and said that they were not on the plane. The fact that their passports were used was confirmed by Interpol,

Both “Kozel” and “Maraldi”, had arrived at KLIA on Feb 28, 2014, Friday, at 2028 hours and 2031 respectively. Both presented themselves at the immigration counters to be checked.

The two travelling on stolen passports have been identified and cleared from any terrorism link.

MH370, a code share flight with China Southern Airlines, left KLIA for Beijing at 12:41am Saturday morning.

All communication with the plane was lost at 1:30am and no distress signal or call was received.

The flight had registered 239 passengers, 38 of them Malaysian. It was scheduled to arrive at Beijing International Airport at 6:30am.