News
Malaysia Intensifies Search For Missing Plane …239 Persons Onboard
Malaysian authorities have said that the airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, which went missing over the South China Sea on Saturday, may have disintegrated mid air.
The search party for the airline has widened with China sending ships to scour the water for possible wreckage while Vietnam has joined the team of international rescue operations.
“The fact that we are unable to find any debris so far appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated at around 35,000 feet,” a source, who is involved in the investigations in Malaysia, told Reuters.
Asked about the possibility of an explosion, such as a bomb, the source said there was no evidence yet of foul play and that the aircraft could have broken up due to mechanical issues.
But Operations and Safety Editor for Flight International, David Learmount, said he would be very surprised if the authorities knew for sure that the plane “disintegrated” mid air, Britain’s Sunday Telegraph reported.
It said Learmount added that it was not unusual to fail to find debris immediately after a crash, pointing out that it took time to find the evidence and uncover the facts.
“We just have to accept that, for the moment, we do not know what has happened. It’s also worth remembering that it took two days for any wreckage from the Air France crash in June 2009 to be found – and two years for the full operation to be completed”, he said.
Vietnamese authorities said a military plane had spotted at sea an object suspected to be part of the missing airliner.
But less than an hour after the statement was made, Vietnam said the objects had turned out to be nothing to do with the plane.
The crew of the DHC-6 plane saw the debris, some 60 miles south-south west of Tho Chu islands, but could not see any marks or identifiable signs.
Director General of Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation, Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said that the debris was not from the plane.
“In the meantime, we are still verifying if the oil slick it matches the MAS Boeing 777-200 with relevant authorities,” he said.
He added that the search radius has also been expanded from 20 nautical miles to 50 nautical miles.
“At present, we have 34 aircraft and 40 ships currently combing the search and rescue areas,” he said.
As news of the disappearance filtered through to distraught friends and relatives who had been waiting for the flight to arrive in Beijing, Malaysia Airlines said it was still investigating and took no questions at a brief news conference.
Flight MH370, operating a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu, Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement read to the news conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia and Vietnam were conducting a joint search and rescue; he said but gave no details.
China has also sent two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help in any rescue, state television said on one of its micro blogs.
“We are extremely worried,” Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing. “The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone on the plane is safe.”
The flight left Kuala Lumpur at 12.21 a.m. (11.21 a.m. ET Friday) but no trace had been found of the plane hours after it was due to land in the Chinese capital at 6.30 a.m. (5.30 p.m. ET Friday) the same day.
“We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370,” Jauhari said.
Saturday morning Malaysia Airlines said people from 14 nationalities were among the 227 passengers, including at least 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians, six Australians and three Americans. It also said a Chinese infant and an American infant were on board.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has indicted a new generation bank, six Fintechs and some microfinance banks in major financial scams by allowing fraudsters to launder huge sums of money.
Director of public Affairs of the Commission, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, made this known at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, yesterday.
According to him, the compromised institutions allegedly allowed cryptocurrency transactions worth N162 billion to pass through without proper due diligence within the 2024/2025 financial year.
He said that the financial institutions clearly compromised banking procedures and allowed the fraudsters to safely change their ill-gotten gains into digital assets and move them to safe destinations.
“A total sum of N18.1 billion was moved through the financial system without due diligence of customers by the banks.
“It is worrisome that investigations by the commission showed that cryptocurrency transactions to the tune of N162 billion passed through a new generation bank without any due diligence.
“Investigations showed that a single customer maintained 960 accounts in another new bank and all the accounts were used for fraudulent purposes.
“That is bad news but the good news is that following our intervention the commission has been able to recover N33.62 million, which has been returned to some of the victims.”
He explained that the scams were in two categories, adding that the first was a syndicate of fraudsters that employed an airline discount scheme to lure their victims.
He said that they advertised a discount system for the purchase of flight tickets of a particular foreign carrier.
“The payment module is designed in such a way that the victims’ payment is actually made into the account of the airline.
“After payment is made the passenger’s entire funds in his bank account are emptied.
“Investigations showed that more than 700 victims have been scammed so far, with a loss of N651 million,” he said.
According to him, investigations show that the scheme is being masterminded by a foreign national; the commission has so far recovered and released N33 million to victims of the fraud.
He said that another scheme involved a company named Fred and Farid Investment Limited, simply called FF investment, which lured Nigerians into a bogus investment arrangement.
“More than 200, 000 victims have been defrauded in this regard. A total sum of N18 billion was raked in through nine companies offering diverse investment packages.
“The companies are: Credio Banco Limited; Deliberty Rock Limited; Liam Chumeks Global Service; Ngwuoke Daniels Technology; and Icons Autos and Import Merchant.
“Others are : Newpace Technology Services Limited, Primepath Ways Ventures Limited, Kaka Synergy Network Limited and Sunlight Tech Hub Services Limited.”
He said that foreign nationals were behind the schemes, while there are three Nigerian accomplices who have been arrested and charged to court.
He said that the masterminds were on the run and efforts are being made to bring them to book.
“The Commission is calling on regulatory bodies to bring financial institutions to compulsory compliance with regulations in the areas of Know Your Customers (KYC), Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and others.
“Deposit Money Banks, Fintechs, Micro Finance Banks found to be aiding and abetting fraudsters should be suspended and referred to the EFCC for thorough investigation and possible prosecution.
“Negligence and failure to monitor suspicious and structured transactions by banks should no longer be allowed,” he said.
While cautioning members of the public to be wary of these actors, he said that the EFCC would continue its works against money laundering by fraudulent actors.
Uwujaren urged financial institutions to firm up their operational dynamics and save the nation leakages and compromises bleeding the economy.
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