What happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 ? The plane vanished on March 8, and authorities, families of passengers, and the worldwide public have been pondering that question ever since. But according to a media report last Friday, Indonesia’s top police official says that he knows the answer — and that he learned it from his counterpart in Malaysia.
The reported statement by Indonesian national police chief General Pol Sutarman was quickly denied by the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia, with spokesperson Aby Nursetyanto even threatening that his government could take legal action against the reporter who wrote the story with Sutarman’s quote, which originally appeared on the Indonesian news site Kompas.com .
“I spoke to the Malaysian Police Chief Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar, I actually know what had actually happened with MH370,” Sutarman is alleged to have said during a private meeting between law enforcement officials and the top brass of Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest private airline.
The Royal Malaysian Police Force also issued a denial of the Kompas.com report, with the country’s Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Kalid Abu Bakart, saying he was shocked by the report.
“I would like to know which media and when such a report was published,” declared Abu Bakart, adding that he planned to confer with Sutarman to get to the bottom of the allegation.
Despite the denials, the report has set off speculation that the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has actually been known to law enforcement officials for weeks, maybe even for the whole six months that the Boeing 777-200 has been missing.
The belief that the true fate of the Malaysia Airline plane is known, but for some reason covered up, echoes statements made last week by Sarah Bajc , the romantic partner of Philip Wood, who was one of only three Americans on board Flight MH370, in which Bajc said, “something is being covered up.”
“If the existing investigation team is left in charge,” Bajc told NBC News , “we may not ever find the plane. Because I believe there are active steps being taken to interfere with finding the plane.”
Bajc added, “We don’t know why or what is being covered up, but something is being covered up.”
After his meeting with Lion Air, Sutarman was asked by reporters what he knew about Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, but according to media reports, he refused to give any further details about the supposed fate of the missing plane and its 239 passengers and crew.