INTERPOL Identified Two Iranian Nationals Using Stolen Passports To Board Missing Malaysian Airlines MH 370 Flight

Pouria Nourmohammadi and Syed Mohammad Reza Delavar 

The two Iranian nationals left Iran legally, but used stolen passports to travel beyond Malaysia. 

By H. Nelson Goodson

March 11, 2014

Lyon, France - On Tuesday, the INTERPOL Central Bureau in Tehran reported that it had identified two Iranian nationals who left the country legally, but boarded Malaysian Airlines missing flight MH 370 with Italian and Austrian stolen passports to travel beyond Malaysia. Both Pouria Nourmohammadi, 18, and Syed Mohammad Reza Delavar, 29, arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with Iranian passports.

The two stolen passports were from Italy, using the name of Luigi Maraldi, 37,  and an Austrian passport, using the name of Cristian Kozel, 30.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said, that both men didn't have any criminal records and no terrorist group affiliation, according to a preliminary investigation. Noble added, that the stolen Austrian and Italian passorts "were recorded in INTERPOL's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database to board China-bound flight MH 370" and that "four out of every 10 international passengers are not being screened against our SLTD database, and this should be a worry for us all."

INTERPOL and other law enforcement agencies suspect a criminal organization provided those passports to Delavar and Nourmohammadi and are trying to identify a criminal network that provided the stolen passorts.

The preliminary investigation indicated that both Nourmohammadi and Delavar had stayed in Malaysia for a week with a friend, Mohammad Mallaeibeasir, 18. Mallaeibeasir notified Malaysian authorities that Nourmohammadi's mother had called him that he hadn't arrived in Frankfurt, Germany. He went to visit his mother in Germany, but that Mallaeibeasir didn't know both Nourmohammadi and Delavar were using stolen passports. Mallaeibeasir told authorities that the men had been talking to another man called "Mr. Ali" who might have provided them with the stolen passports. Mallaeibeasir also told authorities that he dropped the men at the airport on Saturday before the scheduled flight.

On Sunday, officials investigating the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 Boeing 777-200ER suspect it disintegrated in-flight at 35,000 feet because no debris have been located as multiple countries have joined the air/sea search and recovery efforts. 

Three U.S. Citizens were among the missing and 14 different nationalities made up the passenger manifest list.

● China/Taiwan, 153 including infant/1

● Malaysia 38

● India 5

● Indonesia 7

● Australia 6

● France 4

● U.S.A. 3 including infant

● New Zealand 2

● Ukraine 2

● Canada 2

● Russian 1

● Italy 1

● Netherlands 1

● Austrian 1

Malaysian air flight Boeing 777-200 missing passenger list

In brief concerning stolen passports to commit murder aboard. In 2010, 26 suspects from Isreal traveled with fake or stolen passports to Dubai to commit murder. INTERPOL reported the suspects were wanted in connection with the January 19, 2010 homicide of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. None of the suspects have been taken into custody to date. The Israeli suspects were carrying fake or stolen passports from four countries, 3 from Australia, 3 Irish, 3 from France and 6 were British.

Full story at link: 26 Israeli suspects wanted for the homicide of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai