MH370 murder mystery: Malaysian consul gunned down after work on plane debris
A “cool, professional” hit which saw a key official in the MH370 investigation die in a hail of bullets has had a devastating impact on the quest for answers about the lost flight.
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The professional hit on the Malaysian Government official collecting pieces of the missing MH370 plane cannot be discounted as linked to the lost plane as police continue hunting his assassin.
Zahid Raza, the Honorary Malaysian Consul to Madagascar, was gunned down in what has been described a “cool, professional” hit just before he took possession of two newly-discovered pieces of the missing plane.
Tellingly, one piece included an engine part which if officially verified would reveal the plane had crashed violently.
Two years after the shock shooting murder, when Mr Raza was on the brink of new revelations about the world’s biggest aviation mystery, it is still not known who was behind the assassination or why.
And concerned air crash support groups say only the truth will prevent another tragedy.
Mr Raza had lived in Madagascar for years running a business incident free.
But he had received a lot of publicity about his involvement in the search for the truth about MH370 and he had been due to arrange delivery to Malaysia of the latest discovery of plane debris when he was suddenly killed only eight days after it was handed to Madagascar authorities.
His murder proved a major setback to the investigation.
Police refused to release the pieces of plane debris, claiming the pieces were evidence and it was almost two years before they were finally sent to Malaysian investigators.
So far no official test results have been revealed.
Plane-wreck hunter Blaine Gibson who worked closely with Mr Raza, said a link to the MH370 search cannot be ruled out.
“We can’t rule it in or out,” said Mr Gibson.
“The case is considered sensitive and classified by police.
“The indication that it could be linked really is in the timing, he had lived there for a long time, and then days after we hand over the debris to authorities, he is murdered.”
Mr Gibson’s comments came as News Corp exclusively revealed yesterday, the search for MH370 was to be resume.
An explosive Sky News two-part documentary, to air on February 19 and 20, is set to unravel previous searches and reveal the clues that were missed that could now lead to resolution.
MH370 was carrying 239 people when it disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China.
A huge search operation led by Australia lasted three years, covered thousands of miles across the Indian Ocean but found nothing.
But private searches of the coastline and islands off Africa, after drift modelling was done by two of Australia’s foremost oceanographers discovered dozens of pieces of the missing plane.
Mr Gibson had arranged for the last two piece of debris found to be given to Mr Raza who was then to arrange their delivery to Malaysia by private courier.
The debris was an exciting find as it had been determined one of the pieces found was likely from the internal fin of the vortex generator.
The debris had been found by locals after an awareness raising trip to Madagascar by MH370 families.
Mr Gibson said the MH370 Independent Group, comprised of scientists, researchers and individuals helping in the investigation, had already identified the piece from photographs as the base plate on the fin.
“That piece is part of the engine cowling and the base plate normally wouldn’t break up. So the base plate shattering, means the engine shattered on impact,” Mr Gibson said.
This discovery would support the theory that the plane was not in a controlled glide when it went down.
Before the pieces could be sent for official analysis, a murderer on a motorbike followed Mr Raza’s car through the streets of Madagascar’s capital before drawing up next to the car unleashing a hail of bullets through the windscreen.
There was no attempted robbery and the documents he had with him were left in the car with his body.
The murder has people of Madagascar afraid and many believe the killing is linked to the hunt for MH370.
The family of Mr Raza are understood to have told friends they have no idea why he was targeted and killed.
They have also scotched as untrue rumours that he was linked to the kidnapping of members of the ethnic minority Karen community some years ago.
Originally published as MH370 murder mystery: Malaysian consul gunned down after work on plane debris