The captain of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is now the prime suspect in the ongoing investigation into the plane’s mysterious disappearance, after police found suspicious evidence in his house, according to a media report.
More than three months since the plane disappeared over Southeast
Asia, Malaysia’s police force said that following intelligence
checks into all people on board Captain Zaharie Shah, 53, was the
only one who raised suspicion, according to a report published by
The Sunday Times.
Police came to this conclusion after finding a flight simulator
in his home with drills rehearsing a flight far out into the
southern Indian Ocean and a landing on an island with a short
runway, the media report said. The files were deleted from the
computer, but experts were able to retrieve them.
Zaharie, a father of three, was found to have no social or
work-related plans, unlike his colleagues including co-pilot,
Fariq Hamid. The newspaper also reported that police were told of
rumors concerning tensions in his family.
The results of the inquiry have only been released to foreign
governments and disclosed by officials in Southeast Asia to the
Sunday Times.
The Boeing 777-200 plane heading from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing
with 239 passengers and crew went missing on March 8.
Police said that the criminal investigation does not rule out
that the plane went missing due to mechanical failure or an act
of terrorism. However, if the flight was lost due to human
factors, then the captain is suspected to be the perpetrator.
"The police investigation is still ongoing. To date, no
conclusions can be made as to the contributor to the incident and
it would be sub judice to say so. Nevertheless, the police are
still looking into all possible angles," the Malaysian
police was quoted as saying by The Sunday Times.