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CYBER TERROR?

MH370 was the first ‘remote hijacking’ and carried out to stop jet delivering secret cargo to China, author claims

Norman Davies says technology designed to stop a repeat of the 9/11 terror attacks by allowing hijacked planes to be remotely controlled on land may have been exploited by cyber-spooks

A RESPECTED historian and writer says missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 could have been hacked and remotely flown to a secret location.

Norman Davies says technology designed to stop a repeat of the 9/11 terror attacks by allowing hijacked planes to be remotely controlled from the ground may have been exploited by cyber-spooks.

 The flight went missing in 2014 - and a historian says its systems may have been hacked. File picture
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The flight went missing in 2014 - and a historian says its systems may have been hacked. File pictureCredit: Airteam Images
 Norman Davies points out the plane had a remote piloting system
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Norman Davies points out the plane had a remote piloting systemCredit: Corbis - Getty

The plane, which vanished while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014, was equipped with Boeing Honeywell Un-interruptible Autopilot.

In his book Beneath Another Sky: A Global Journey into History he says that the very existence of this technology makes such a nightmarish scenario possible.

Mr Davies told The Sunday Times the plane may have been carrying sensitive material or personnel to Beijing and was subjected to two kidnap attempts.

He said: "Nobody has come up with an answer, so it is perfectly valid to speculate.

"My solution is intelligible. I feel that the plane was remotely kidnapped by a hacker and then a second hacker or remote controller took it over.

"The first kidnap was by the Americans, who wanted to stop the plane getting to Beijing and planned to divert it to Diego Garcia [a US naval base in the Indian Ocean], and then somebody hacked it to stop it from getting there."

 A pilot looks out from the cockpit of a AP-3C Orion during a search mission for missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370
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A pilot looks out from the cockpit of a AP-3C Orion during a search mission for missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370Credit: AFP
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Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
 A total of 239 people were lost with the plane
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A total of 239 people were lost with the planeCredit: Getty Images - Getty
Hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is called off

The missing aircraft, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew, vanished on March 8, 2014 – with researchers saying they had been looking in the wrong place.

Despite experts never having found the body of any of its passengers, the hunt for MH370 was set to end after nearly three years.

On January 17, 2017, it was officially suspended by officials in Australia.

Only 33 pieces of wreckage were found during the hunt, which saw investigators searching the deep sea areas near to the suspected crash site in the Indian Ocean, and scanning the water from the air.

News the search teams had abandoned their mission saw a series of conspiracy theories resurface.


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