The two who boarded MH370 with stolen passports were allowed by immigration officers based on standard operating procedure, said Immigration Department director-general Aloyah Mamat.

According to Bernama , she said the passport holders matched the photos in the travel documents.

She added that the passenger who used the stolen passport belonging to Austrian national Christian Kozel arrived at KLIA on the night of Feb 28.

Whereas the other passenger, whom the police identified as an Iranian national, had arrived in the country from Phuket, Thailand, via a Qatar Airways flight.

The 19-year-old youth identified as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad was in possession of a passport belonging to Italian national Luigi Maraldi.

Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said checks showed that Pouria, who was planning to migrate to Germany, had no terror links.

Both men were issued with a 90-day social pass.

When Interpol revealed that two passengers had used stolen passports, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had lashed out at immigration officers.

He also vowed that a detailed probe would be carried out.

However, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein claimed that there were 40 million stolen passports on the Interpol list, thus making it impossible to carry out a check.