Malaysian plane disappearance may have been terrorist hijacking

Convicted terrorist testified that he sold a bomb to Malaysian jihadists for the purpose of a hijacking, 'Telegraph' reports.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Boeing 777 Malaysian Airlines. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Boeing 777 Malaysian Airlines.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Growing speculation suggests that the disappearance of a Malaysian Airlines plane carrying 239 people may be the result of an act of terrorism related to 9/11, the Telegraph reported o n Sunday.
According to the report, Saajid Badat, a British citizen of Muslim descent with ties to terrorist elements in Afghanistan, sold a bomb especially made to be concealed in a shoe to Malaysian jihadists.
The convicted British, al-Qaida terrorist gave security experts evidence indicating the plot was designed by the al-Qaida mastermind behind engineering the 9/11 attacks on New York's twin towers. Security experts are calling the testimony "credible" in light of recent reports that flight MH370's communication controls were deliberately turned off and that the plane was then flown off course for hours.
The source's testimony in court last week revealed that he had allegedly sold the 'shoe-bomb' for the purpose of opening a plane's cockpit door and taking control of an aircraft. He told the court that he had met the Malaysian jihadists in Afghanistan, one of whom was a pilot.
Badat claimed that the plot to hijack a passenger airplane was designed by the principal architect behind 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
According to the Telegraph, Badat had given similar evidence in 2012 during his trial and sentencing for plotting to blow up a transatlantic jet with "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid. That evidence is now coming to light as relevant to the current situation in Malaysia.
A British professor,  Anthony Glees, has suggested that a homegrown Malaysian terrorist plot may be the reason that Malaysian authorities have been slow in turning over evidence regarding the flight's disappearance, an issue that has aroused anger among Chinese authorities. Most of the flight's passengers were Chinese citizens.
According to the Telegraph, last May, two Malaysian men were arrested for links to al-Qaida and charged with joining the Tanzim al-Qaida Malaysia group. Also, two other men from Malaysia were held in Lebanon as they allegedly tried to cross into Syria to join Islamist extremists fighting the Assad regime.
In 2001 Yazid Sufaat, a biochemist and former army captain, was imprisoned for seven years under internal security laws on suspicion of being part of the Jemaah Islamiah network, the terrorist organization behind a series of bombings in south east Asia including the Bali nightclub massacre in which 202 people were killed in 2002.
The terrorism theories and testimony come as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stated that the plane was deliberately re-routed and that it's communication systems were switched off, but did not mention hijacking as an explanation for the plane's disappearance.


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