Probe into mystery call to captain of doomed jet: Unknown woman used a fake ID when buying phone to bypass security checks

  • Call was made to Captain Shah just hours before he took off in MH370
  • Pay-as-you-go phone which made the call was bought with fake ID
  • Fake ID was used to get around security measures put in place after 9/11
  • Increases fears Captain Shah may have links to terrorism
  • Investigators will soon question the captain's estranged wife in detail

By Simon Parry

PUBLISHED: 18:40 EST, 22 March 2014 | UPDATED: 20:51 EST, 22 March 2014

The captain of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 received a two-minute call shortly before take-off from a mystery woman using a mobile phone number obtained under a false identity.

It was one of the last calls made to or from the mobile of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah in the hours before his Boeing 777 left Kuala Lumpur 16 days ago.

Investigators are treating it as potentially significant because anyone buying a pay-as-you-go SIM card in Malaysia has to fill out a form giving their identity card or passport number.

Family man: Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah with his wife Faizah Khan and two of their three children

Family man: Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah with his wife Faizah Khan and two of their three children

Hunt: The mystery object in a Chinese satellite image, inset, some 80 miles from the previous search zone

Hunt: The mystery object in a Chinese satellite image, inset, some 80 miles from the previous search zone

Introduced as an anti-terrorism measure following 9/11, this ensures that every number is registered to a traceable person.

But in this case police traced the number to a shop selling SIM cards in Kuala Lumpur. They found that it had been bought ‘very recently’ by someone who gave a woman’s name – but was using a false identity.

The discovery raises fears of a possible link between Captain Zaharie, 53, and terror groups whose members routinely use untraceable SIM cards. Everyone else who spoke to the pilot on his phone in the hours before the flight took off has already been interviewed.

 

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In a separate development, The Mail on Sunday has learned that investigators are now poised to question Captain Shah’s estranged wife in detail.

They have waited two weeks out of respect, but will now begin formally interviewing Faizah Khan following pressure from FBI agents assisting the inquiry.

Although the couple – who have three children – were separated, they had been living under the same roof. A source said: ‘Faizah has  been spoken to gently by officers but she has not been questioned in detail to establish her husband’s behaviour and state of mind in the days leading to the incident.

DESERT ISLAND PLANE CRASH COMPUTER GAME IS SHELVED

Disaster: A promotional scene from the game that is now out on Tuesday

The latest release of a war-themed computer game – centred on a passenger plane that crashes on to a desert island in the South China Sea – has been delayed as the search for missing flight MH370 continues. Battlefield 4 Naval Strike, an update for the Battlefield 4 game which has sold millions of copies worldwide, was due for release last week – but has now been put back until Tuesday.

‘This is partly for cultural reasons. It is not considered appropriate in Malaysia to subject people in situations of terrible bereavement to the stress of intensive questioning.’

The softly-softly approach has been challenged by the team of FBI agents working with Malaysian police. They have pointed out that she may hold ‘vital clues and information’ to Zaharie’s mental state.

‘The whole world is looking for this missing plane and the person who arguably knows most about the state of mind of the man who captained the plane is being left alone,’ said a source close to the FBI team.

The source added: ‘If we want to eliminate the chief pilot from the inquiry, we must interview her in detail to find out what his state of mind was.’

The mystery caller emerged when Malaysian investigators examined the phone records of both Zaharie and his co-pilot, 27-year-old Fariq Abdul Hamid. Investigators were keen to trace the caller and interview them, although they have stressed that the fact the SIM card was registered to a non-existent ID card does not necessarily indicate a criminal or terrorist connection.

Political activists in Malaysia sometimes use SIM cards bought with bogus identity cards if they fear that their phones may be bugged by the country’s authoritarian ruling party.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that Zaharie is an avid supporter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, a distant relative, and may have attended a controversial court hearing where Anwar was jailed for five years. It took place only a few hours before the flight. The timing of the call has intensified scrutiny on Zaharie as investigators struggle to establish whether the cockpit crew, a catastrophic accident or hijackers are to blame for Flight MH370’s disappearance.

Meanwhile FBI experts in the US are continuing to examine the hard drive of a flight simulator seized from Zaharie’s home after it emerged that programs he used on it had been deleted. Zaharie used the home flight simulator to practise extreme landings, including on remote Indian Ocean islands such as the US air base in Diego Garcia, investigators have revealed.

The hard drive was flown to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, at the end of last week after Malaysian investigators failed to retrieve the deleted files, which they suspect may have been ‘buried’ in an elaborate process to cover  the user’s tracks.

The delay in handing the computer hard drive to the FBI has proved  to be a source of friction between the Malaysian and US investigators, the source close to the FBI said, adding: ‘We have the technology to do this work quickly and effectively and they simply don’t.’

Malaysia’s acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday said investigators are coming under increasing pressure as they are aware that time is running out  – the black box voice and data recorder only transmits an electronic signal for about 30 days before its battery runs out.

But he claimed a thorough investigation of the plane’s cargo manifest had not shown ‘any link to anything that may have contribution to the plane’s disappearance’.

'Wreckage’ spotted...80 miles from previous site of debris

By IAN GALLAGHER

A mystery object has been spotted in the Indian Ocean search zone – 80 miles from an earlier sighting of debris.

Measuring 74ft by 42ft, the  object appears in a new image taken by a Chinese satellite.
Ships have been sent to investigate but a ferocious cyclone was yesterday hampering efforts to locate the possible wreckage.

The news came two days after debris was detected 1,550 miles south-west of Perth in Australia.

An Australian Orion aircraft was sent to scour area where satellite imagery pinpointed possible debris

An Australian Orion aircraft was sent to scour area where satellite imagery pinpointed possible debris

The satellite picture of the possible debris was handed over by China and given a new focal point for search

The satellite picture of the possible debris was handed over by China and given a new focal point for search

Since the announcement, Australian search teams scouring the remote area reported seeing  a number of small objects including a wooden pallet.

Malaysia¿s acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein revealed the image at a press conference

Malaysia¿s acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein revealed the image at a press conference

A Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion plane with specialist electro-optic observation equipment was diverted to the location, arriving after the first aircraft left, but reported sighting only clumps of seaweed.

The Chinese satellite discovery was revealed yesterday by Malaysia’s acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein at a press conference.

He made the announcement after being handed a handwritten note.

He said: ‘The Chinese ambassador has received satellite images of floating objects in the southern corridor and they will be sending ships to investigate.’

China is one of 26 nations involved in the search for flight MH370. Most of those on board the aircraft were Chinese nationals.

The Xinhua state news agency said the latest image was taken by China’s Gaofen-1 satellite at about 4am GMT on March 18 and showed objects some 80 miles ‘south by west’ from the first site.

The announcement came after the first Australian Orion aircraft to make a sortie over the target zone returned without success.

Flying Officer Peter Moore, the Orion’s captain, said a combination of ‘less than ideal’ weather and sea conditions had closed in on the flight.

He said they covered their entire search area but had not seen any evidence of wreckage.

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How stupid they didn't talk to the wife tight away. Lives may have been ruined because of him, you never know and they wanted to be polite? The FBI rolls in and things start happening. Good. Slam on the US all you want to but it sure seems we make things happen.

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Unfortunately this new discovery has really raised a lot of doubts about the pilots, the airline & the Malaysian Government as a whole. They shod increase their transparency, tighten their security, hire only competent people, conduct psychological tests towards the airlines staff, and so forth. Or see yr reputation will sink even more. Over to you Najib

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May be the plane carried nuclear technology meant for Iran. Anything is possible.

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Okie dokie, I've watched enough true crime TV to know a smoking gun when I see one! A burner phone is a HUGE clue and one that I'm sure the 'authorities' have known about all along.

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Facebook page made by the captain's family friend says they are still pretty much married and not separated. Regarding the sim, sellers are usually not that interested to know your real identity if it is pay-as-you-go sim, just fill in the form and they'd register it... Many rules are not properly enforced there, not up to the standard of (pedantic) British (i dont mean it badly)

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I think there is a lot of information that is being withheld. The authorities know more than they are letting on. One of the many things that really baffle me is that most of the passengers on board MUST have had mobile phones. If there was some sort of incident occuring, why didn't anyone call or text family/friends??. All very strange.

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I used to live in Malaysia for nearly 7 years and I used more thn 10 prepaid numbers and I never registered under my name unless the promotional package deal requires it otherwise it's completely okay in Malaysia to buy a sim card without providing your ID. Don't you know you can use pay phones and all those so called "experts" can never trace u unless u are a dump and stand infort of a cc camera. I feel sorry for his wife she just lost the father of her children yet ppl don't respect her lost. The pilot was Muslim does not mean he was terrorist...

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"May have links to a terrorist group." What proof is there to make a statement like this about this man. I am not Arabic, a Muslim, or even have any friends in either category but I'm sick of these accusations. Maybe they are true and maybe not. This world needs to quit seeing Muslims under every bed. Yes there are some horrors amongst them but there are some pretty unsavory characters in other religions and, in particular, politics who would sell their souls for power and money. Perhaps Britain should look to what is happening on its own shores where the country is being handed over to the EU to be governed by people who have not been elected by the British public and let those looking for this plane do their thing.

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Everyone is asking where the plane is. I stick with my earlier prediction. And that is, plane and passengers r still in one piece and safe. Landed into a mysterious location after it's pilot did what he was told to do by a criminal organization. That's why it flew very low to avoid the radar after a certain time. The longer they wait, much bigger deal their demand would become. They r not stupid. Nor the Americans. And our intelligent friends in United States r going to spot them where they r very soon and where the plane is.

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To me it doesn't sound uncommon for people in Malaysia to use these fake ID cards to obtain a sim only phone so they can't be traced for political reasons. DM stop making accusations of every Tom Richard and Harry related to this case, mainly the pilots, until there Is concrete evidence. Still praying for mh370 x

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