American plane hunter Blaine Gibson believes the death of Honorary Consul of Malaysia, Zahid Raza, on August 24, 2017 was “highly suspicious” after he was gunned down before he could transport parts of the missing aeroplane to Kuala Lumpa for analysis. The Boeing 77 carrying 239 passengers vanished during its journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Mr Gibson, who claims to have located up to 32 parts of the missing Boeing jet in the Indian Ocean, says Madagascar Police are withholding the vital evidence.
Mr Gibson told news.com.au: “The diplomat was murdered eight days after I handed those pieces in.”
He added: “I don’t know if they are related, but the timing is highly suspicious.”
Meanwhile, there are also contradicting reports Mr Raza was killed as the result of payback for alleged involvement in the abduction of several Indian and Pakistani residents in 2009.
Since its disappearance more than five years ago, only three pieces of the aircraft have ever been officially found, which include a two-metre long wing part known as a flaperon.
Mr Gibson, who has travelled to over 195 countries, also claimed to be the victim of death threats after people suggested he was part of a “conspiracy” because missing parts of the MH370 were being found at such regularity.
He said: “I went out and searched along the shorelines, and I started to find pieces of the plane.”
Mr Gibson added: “Many other people were also finding pieces of the plane, debris that was naturally washing ashore, and they would bring them to me. I told the local people what to look for and offered small rewards.
“People started questioning how it could be that I was finding all these plane parts — which in fact were found by many different individuals, not just me — and it became another conspiracy.
“But I was only doing as a private citizen what the authorities should have been doing themselves — which was searching the coastlines where debris started turning up.”
The Governments of Australia, Malaysia and China ended the official search in January 2017 after a vast hunt using a deep-sea vessel in the southern Indian ocean.
Investigation experts were also unable to reach a definitive conclusion as to what might have happened during its final moments.
Another attempt to solve the aviation mystery, was conducted in January 2018 by a private firm called Ocean Infinity, but the hunt came to an end just five months later.