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FBI to question MH370 pilot’s wife

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is set to question the wife of the pilot of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, as authorities look into the possibility that the plane could have been hijacked, the Daily Mirror reported.

The wife of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah – Faizah Khan – is expected to assist investigators into the probe of the disappearance of the flight, which has now been missing for more than two weeks.

The report said American intelligence agents are looking into the backgrounds of 53-year-old Zaharie and his co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27.

The daily, in quoting a source close to the investigations, said the probe into Fariq's background is almost complete and has not turned up anything suspicious so far.

"There seems to be nothing in the life of Fariq Hamid to suggest a motive for hijacking," the source was quoted as saying.

"The personal life of Zaharie Shah, however, is far more complex and is in the process of being unravelled."

The report said that the the relationship between Zaharie and Faizah had soured, but the couple were still living together with their children.

Reports emerged yesterday that Zaharie's family had left their family home to ride out a "storm of speculation" against the pilot.

According to a friend of the family, the decision of Zaharie’s wife and children to go into hiding was to avoid being hounded by the media, like what happened to the family of Fariq where a local TV station stationed themselves in front of the house.

The Daily Mail, on Sunday, had reported that Zaharie had received a mysterious phone call from an unknown woman using a mobile number obtained using a false identity.

That report said the call was being treated as "significant" as a proper identity document is required in order to buy a prepaid SIM card. The number, the report said, has been traced to a phone shop in Kuala Lumpur.

In an immediate response to that Daily Mail article, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar dismissed the report and asked the newspaper to provide the telephone number which would be "helpful".

"If not, it is mere speculation," Khalid was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Police had searched the homes of both Zaharie and Fariq and have seized their computers and a flight simulator belonging to the former.

The simulator has been reassembled at the Bukit Aman police headquarters and was examined by experts. The FBI has been enlisted to help recover data deleted in the simulator.

The Mirror said that authorities have also seized the financial records of all the 12 crew members, including bank statements, credit card bills and mortgage documents.

Investigators are now becoming more convinced that the mystery behind the jetliner's disappearance is in the cockpit of the plane, the report added. – March 24, 2014.