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The international police agency Interpol on Sunday confirmed that at least two passports recorded in its Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database were used by passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370.
The two passports, an Austrian and an Italian one, were added to Interpol's SLTD database after their theft in Thailand in 2012 and 2013 respectively, said the Lyon-based organization in a statement.
Since no checks of the two stolen passports were made by any country between the time they were registered in Interpol's database and the departure of flight MH 370, Interpol said it's "unable to determine on how many other occasions these passports were used to board flights or cross borders."
The agency is currently in contact with its National Central Bureaus in the involved countries to determine the true identities of the passengers who used these stolen passports to board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, the statement added.
Amid international speculation that the stolen passports' holders could be terrorists, "Interpol is making all needed resources available to help relevant authorities in Malaysia and elsewhere find out what happened," Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble was quoted as saying.
Interpol's SLTD database, created in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks, is aimed at helping countries secure their borders and protect their citizens from terrorists and other dangerous criminals known to use fraudulent travel documents.
But "few member countries systematically search Interpol's databases to determine whether a passenger is using a stolen or lost travel document to board a plane," as a result of which the world is speculating whether the stolen passports were used by terrorists to board MH 370, the statement noted.
In order to ensure a safe travel, "I sincerely hope that governments and airlines worldwide will learn from the tragedy of missing flight MH 370 and begin to screen all passengers' passports prior to allowing them to board flights," concluded Noble.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370, a Boeing 777-200, was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers on board, including 154 Chinese, when it lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control Saturday morning.
