This is new info, for me. Those are the two people whose passports had long been reported stolen, and were listed among the passengers.
If the plan was to blow up the plane out of Malaysia, it doesn't seem like they would have booked further travel. Not impossible, I guess.
Not really. The only way they could go via China without obtaining visas would be transit. Should there be a finding that terrorism is involved, then transit passengers may have to obtain visas in the near future!
Booking further travel would be a way to avoid needing to obtain a Visa to enter China. A visa application for stolen passports would have raised eyebrows with the chinese authorities. China has a program where travelers passing through from certain countries are not required to have visas. People with European passports are afforded this convenience.
That is what bugs me too. If you are going to blow up the plane, why spend the money for other destinations?
Or would it be less suspicious to book travel that appeared you were going home from your trip? Sounds good to me. After all, the El Al experts do look for such things and ask probing questions like where are you going, what were you doing in Malaysia, etc. Going home looks very normal.
Two theories -
1. Additional travel would lower the suspicion of authorities. It's the one way tickets that get really scrutinized.
2. They were unwitting mules for devices they had no idea they were carrying or were convinced was something other than it was. The additional travel was booked to lower their suspicion.
No doubt the additional legs were made so as to not cast suspicion on just making a reservation for a one way ticket.