"The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident," said Mr Noble. "By doing this, eventually, with more and more evidence, we'll able to exclude that they were involved in conduct that might have involved the plane to disappear and focus on eliminating the human trafficking ring that allowed them to travel."
As officials in Malaysia announced they were again extending the area they were scouring and the country's military suggested the missing plane may have actually veered west across the Strait of Malacca, a partial picture emerged of the journey being undertaken by the two men who until now have been the focus of much of the work being conducted by Malaysian and foreign intelligence investigators.
It appears the two men boarded a flight in Doha, Qatar, using their Iranian passports and flew to Kuala Lumpur. There, they were able to pick up two European passports, one belonging to Austrian Christian Kozel and the other to Luigi Maraldi of Italy. The passports had been stolen in Thailand in 2012 and 2013 respectively and had been entered into Interpol's database.
"We know that once these individuals arrived in Kuala Lumpur on the 28th of February they boarded flight 370 using different identities, a stolen Austrian and a stolen Italian passport," said Mr Noble.
In Kuala Lumpur, police confirmed that they did not believe the two passengers were linked to any militant groups. Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters that Mr Mehrdad was apparently heading to Frankfurt to join his mother. When he failed to arrive in Germany, she had contacted the authorities in Kuala Lumpur.
"We believe he is not likely to be a member of any terrorist group, and we believe he was trying to migrate to Germany," said Mr Khalid. "His mother was expecting him to arrive. She contacted us here, so that is how we know he is the one."
The Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels, runs along Malaysia's west coast. Malaysia Airlines said on Saturday that radio and radar contact with flight MH370 was lost off the east coast Malaysian town of Kota Bharu.
Yet the Reuters news agency quoted an unidentified military official who said the plane may have flown for a further 350 miles. "It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait," said the official.
Aviation experts have said it is highly unusual that no trace of the plane has been spotted.
Asked earlier in the day about the possible causes for the plane's disappearance, Mr Khalid, the police chief, said investigators were focussing on four areas - hijacking, sabotage, psychological problems and possible personal problems of the passengers or crew.
"Maybe somebody on the flight has bought a huge sum of insurance, who wants family to gain from it or somebody who has owed somebody so much money, you know, we are looking at all possibilities," he said.
"We are looking very closely at the video footage taken at the (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), we are studying the behavioural pattern of all the passengers."
- UK Independent
