Take a close look at the pictures of the Iranian men who used stolen passports to board theMalaysian Airlines plane that has been missing since Saturday. Notice anything off about it?
Pictures of the two men, a 19-year old Iranian, identified by Malaysian police as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, left, and the man on the right, his identity still not released, who boarded the now missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 with stolen passports, is held up by a Malaysian policewoman during a press conference, Tuesday, March 11, 2014 in Sepang, Malaysia. One of the two men traveling on a missing Malaysian Airlines jetliner was an Iranian asylum seeker, officials said Tuesday, as baffled authorities expanded their search for the Boeing 777 on the opposite side of the country from where it disappeared nearly four days ago with 239 people on board.(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Pictures of the two men, a 19-year old Iranian, identified by Malaysian police as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, left, and the man on the right, his identity still not released, who boarded the now missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 with stolen passports, is held up by a Malaysian policewoman during a press conference, Tuesday, March 11, 2014 in Sepang, Malaysia. One of the two men traveling on a missing Malaysian Airlines jetliner was an Iranian asylum seeker, officials said Tuesday, as baffled authorities expanded their search for the Boeing 777 on the opposite side of the country from where it disappeared nearly four days ago with 239 people on board.(AP/Wong Maye-E)
Some, particularly on social media, have pointed out that the men appear to have the same bottom half, suggesting that the images were Photoshopped.
Look at the position of their feet. Look at the shadows. Look at the shape of the bag, especially in the context that the man on the left doesn’t appear to be holding the same shape of bag in his top half.
After the issue started to gain traction, Malaysian officials confirmed the photo was altered, though said it was not done intentionally.
Asmawati Ahmad, spokeswoman for the Malaysian assistant police commissioner, told Agence France-Presse that the issue occurred when someone photocopied the images. She said it “was not done with malice or to mislead” and said this was explained when the images were handed out to members of the media.
This combination of images released by Interpol and displayed by Malaysian police during a news conference in Sepang, Malaysia, on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, shows an Iranian identified by Interpol as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, who Malaysian authorities say is 19, although Interpol's information indicated an age of 18, left, and 29-year-old Iranian Delavar Seyedmohammaderza. The men boarded the now missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 with stolen passports. (AP/Interpol)
This combination of images released by Interpol and displayed by Malaysian police during a news conference in Sepang, Malaysia, on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, shows an Iranian identified by Interpol as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, who Malaysian authorities say is 19, although Interpol’s information indicated an age of 18, left, and 29-year-old Iranian Delavar Seyedmohammaderza. The men boarded the now missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 with stolen passports. (AP/Interpol)
Law enforcement officials said Tuesday that the men who used the stolen passports were probably not terrorists. Police said both men bought their tickets in Thailand and entered Malaysia together.
No debris from the plane has been found. On Tuesday, baffled authorities expanded their search to the opposite side of Malaysia from where the Boeing 777 Flight MH370 disappeared Saturday with 239 people on board.
The Associate Press contributed to this report.