Pattaya Police Colonel Supachai was called on this week to investigate two travel agencies in Pattaya that had been involved in selling tickets to passengers on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 which disappeared somewhere over the South China Sea this week.
Authorities in Malaysia combing through the passenger manifest had found something wrong with two passengers who appeared to be travelling on stolen passports. The two passengers were travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Europe via Beijing on tickets bought in Thai Baht and issued at the same time from two Pattaya travel agencies through China Southern Airlines which code shares with Malaysia Airlines.
Police Colonel Supachai led a team of local police, tourist police and immigration officers to question staff and examine records at the travel shops Grand Horizon Travel Agency in the Pratamnuk area in South Pattaya and Six Stars Travel located on the ground floor of Central Festival Pattaya Beach.
A number of documents were taken away from examination and details passed on to intelligence agencies here in Thailand and in Malaysia.
We now know that the tickets were purchased using two passports reportedly stolen in Thailand in the last two years An Italian passport under the name of Mr. Luigi Maraldi and an Austrian Passport under the name of Mr. Christian Kozel.
Two Iranian men are believed to have used the stolen passports and tickets to board the ill fated flight that left Kuala Lumpur heading for Beijing and is still lost.
