Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has defended Malaysia's failure to check with Interpol's database of stolen passports, allowing two imposters to board Malaysia Airlines flight, which later went missing.

When asked why did the Malaysian immigration officers not use the system, he rebutted: "Do you know how many passports are reported missing to Interpol? I was told it's 40 million".

Malaysia and several other countries have come under criticism by Interpol for not using its database to check for stolen or fraudulent passports.

Interpol had yesterday revealed that the two passports, one an Italian one and the other an Austrian one, used by the imposters to board flight MH370 early Saturday morning, had been recorded as lost or stolen in its database.

Hishammuddin said both US and Chinese intelligence have now been brought on board to help identify the two imposters.

“I have met with the US intelligence yesterday and today we shared information, both biometric and background information as well as the visual recorded in KLIA, and those information are being digested by the relevant agencies both local and international,” he said.

Likewise, he said the Chinese delegation which arrived today will also join in to help identify the imposters.

CCTV footage to be released ‘in time’

Asked whether the authorities plan to release pictures of the two suspicious passengers, Hishammuddin said it will only be done “in time”.

“The information must first get to the relevant authorities - and it has - as it is going to be digested and when the time comes (we think) it will not affect the investigation, you will be the first to know,” he said.

Hishammuddin also refused to reveal any details about the nationality or appearance of the two passengers and declined to confirm Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s statement that they looked Asian.

In a separate development, Hishammuddin said New Zeland has deployed a ship to assist in the search, joining countries like US, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Australia who are already involved in the operation.

Meanwhile, Department of Civil Aviation director-general Azaharuddin Abdul Rahman said a Boeing technical team has arrived in Malaysia to assist the investigation.

“I will meet them to chart out what they can help us on and together work out a programme for the investigation if we find the aircraft.

“The main thing is still we have to find the aircraft or parts of it in order to initiate an investigation,” he said.