MH370: Who is ‘Mr B, the mysterious spy?

A French businessman, Ghyslain Wattrelos, whose wife and children vanished on MH370, claims a spy called “Mr B” told him the US knows the exact location of the doomed jet.

The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in March 2014 remains one of the greatest unsolved aviation mysteries. But a Frenchman, Ghyslain Wattrelos, who lost his wife Laurence, son Hadrien, and daughter Ambre on the flight, has claimed that a spy named “Mr. B” told him the US knows the exact location of the doomed jet.

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Wattrelos claimed the spy said, “the Americans know full well what happened” and that two American Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes monitored the area where the plane vanished. 

Investigative journalist Florence de Changy backed up Wattrelos’s theory, saying the US planes had “phenomenal jamming capabilities” and could have intercepted MH370 after finding out the flight was “carrying problematic cargo to China,” such as stolen technology. She said the jets could have made MH370 disappear from radar, or ordered the captain to land.

When Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah receives the order, he possibly refused, and the jets were scrambled by the AWACS to take out the plane, Changy said.

Wattrelos said he was “fed nonsense” about what happened to the plane and found it difficult to receive information that the Americans were allegedly involved. He quit his job as an engineer to investigate the disappearance of MH370 full-time. The FBI was given the flight simulator data two years after the plane vanished, which showed the captain had rehearsed the plane’s fatal flight at home. But Wattrelos said the FBI had been given the data at the time of the plane’s disappearance and never raised the alarm, raising his suspicions. “For me, once again, it’s more proof the Americans are involved,” he said.

Also read | Disappearance of MH370: Who is Ghyslain Wattrelos? Know about the businessman’s wife and kids

The disappearance of MH370 with 239 passengers and crew on board occurred on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Instead of reuniting with his family, Wattrelos was met by French diplomats who told him the plane was missing. He said he “cannot accept” the plane disappeared and is working “every day, every week” to get answers for his surviving son, Alex.

Despite the lack of official information, Wattrelos’s claim adds to the long list of conspiracy theories surrounding the plane’s disappearance. Australian officials led the search for the plane, while the Malaysian government was criticized for its handling of the investigation.
In 2018, Malaysian authorities released their final report, saying the plane’s controls had likely been deliberately manipulated, but they did not determine who was responsible.
The search for MH370 continues to this day, with Australia’s Defense Science and Technology Group analyzing satellite imagery to look for debris in the Indian Ocean.