One of the two men who boarded Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with stolen passports is a 19-year-old Iranian national who was on his way to Germany.

At a press conference today, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar ( right ) identified the youth as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad.

Pouria was in possession of the Austrian passport that had been reported stolen by its owner.

The police chief said checks revealed that the youth, who entered Malaysia on Feb 28, was not linked with any terror network.

"It is not likely Pouria is a member of any terror organisation," Khalid told a press conference at Sama-Sama Hotel at the KL International Airport.

"When we identified him being a traveller on a stolen passport, we focused on him and disseminated his information to our counterparts all over the world and we got replies very fast."

The police have also released images of the two men.

The second man ( left ), is in possession of a stolen Italian passport.

Interpol secretary general Ronald K Noble later identified him as Delavar Syed Mohammad Reza, 29.

When news of the stolen passports emerged, investigators began to look into the possibility of a terrorist attack.

However, according to Reuters , the international police agency does not believe the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane was the result of a terrorist attack.

Noble also suggested that the two men may have been smuggled in by traffickers.

"The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident," he was quoted as saying.

The two Iranian passport holders, who started their trip in Doha, had swapped their passports in Kuala Lumpur and used stolen Italian and Austrian passports to board the airliner, Noble told reporters at Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, France.

"We know that once these individuals arrived in Kuala Lumpur on the 28th of February they boarded flight 370 using different identities, a stolen Austrian and a stolen Italian passport," he said.

Neither of the Iranian passports were reported stolen or lost.

Earlier, during the press conference, Khalid said police had established Pouria's (left) identity after they made contact with his mother.

"We know he wanted to migrate to Germany because we are in contact with his mother. His mother was waiting for him to arrive in Frankfurt.

"When he never arrived, she contacted us here, that is why we know he is the same one using the stolen passport," he said.

He said Pouria had never been to Malaysia prior to this.

Khalid said Criminal Investigations Department director Hadi Ho Abdullah, who is leading the investigations, is combing all video footage from KLIA from March 7 to 8.

Flight MH370 which departed from Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on March 7, was due to arrive in Beijing at 6.30am but lost contact over the Gulf of Thailand at 1.30am.

To date, a massive search has been launched in the South China Sea as well as over the Straits of Malacca, considering indications that the plane may have turned back.

However, no sign of the aircraft has been found.

'Immigration SOP complied with'

Also present at the press conference was newly-minted Immigration director-general Aloyah Mamat, who said the authorities had reviewed CCTV footage and confirmed all standard operating procedures was complied with in regard to the two imposters.

"I reiterate that all the department's standard operating procedures had been followed by the immigration officers in conducting clearance and verification of the two subjects," Aloyah said.

She said Pouria and Delavar had entered Malaysia on Feb 28 and gone through immigration checks three minutes apart, respectively using an Austrian passport (P2979523) and Italian passport (YA3189197).

They were issued a social visit pass for 90 days after immigration officers were satisfied with their inspection, she said.

Pouria and Delavar departed for Beijing on flight MH370 on March 7 and had presented themselves for immigration check at 8.31pm and 8.43pm respectively

Aloyah said immigration did not detect the fake identity of Pouria as it was his first trip to Malaysia and therefore the immigration department only obtained his biometric for the first time.

The same biometric information was used to depart the country, she said.

However, Aloyah said, she was not certain whether the passport used contained biometric features.

Shortly after flight MH370 went missing, Malaysia Airlines released a passenger manifest that included the names of Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Miraldi.

However, both the Austrian and Italian foreign ministries had denied their citizens were on the flight, adding that their passports were stolen in Thailand two years ago.

These facts raised a red flag that two passengers on the flight were imposters and prompted the police to look at the possibility of whether the duo were hijackers or merely individuals travelling with false documents.