Over 200 statements recorded over MH370 investigation: Malaysia

Over 200 statements had been recorded by the police over the investigation of the missing plane incident, Malaysian Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said Friday.

He said relatives of the passengers and crew of the lost flight MH370 were among those who gave the statements, and that more people would be questioned by the police in their investigation.

"It is an ongoing investigation. As of yesterday evening, we recorded 205 statements. More statements are to be recorded. There are certain points we have to relook to really make things clear in our investigation," he said after attending an event here.

Khalid said the cargo of mangosteens carried on the missing plane might have not been cultivated in Johor, responding to the denial by the Johor Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama).

"The mangosteens may have not necessarily been cultivated in Johor; the supplier is from Muar. I did not say they were harvested in Muar," he said, adding that "I said we will investigate up to the stage where the fruits were harvested. I did not say the orchard was in Johor. The mangosteens were gathered in Muar before being brought to the KLIA (KL International Airport)."

Khalid said they would investigate to ascertain whether the food served on board the plane had been poisoned.

Malaysian flight MH370 went missing on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. An International effort to search for the lost flight has been launched since then.

Australian navy ship Ocean Shield has detected suspicious signals for four times in the past week in a designated search zone in the Indian Ocean.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Friday that he is confident the signals heard over the past days were from the black box of the missing Malaysian flight.

"We have very much narrowed down the search area and we are very confident that the signals that we are detecting are from the black box," Abbott told reporters in Shanghai, China.

"Nevertheless, we're getting into the stage where the signal from what we are very confident is the black box is starting to fade," he added. "We are hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal finally expires."