The aircraft was carrying 4.566 tonnes of mangosteens - an exotic fruit - and a shipment of lithium batteries, which were part of a separate consignment.
The batteries weighed 200kg, but that separate consignment totalled 2.453 tonnes. So what was being carried to make up the 2.253 tonnes in that separate shipment?
A Malaysian Airlines aircraft takes off from
Kuala Lumpur Airport: Questions have been raised after the airline
refused to reveal details of 2.3 tonnes of cargo aboard missing jet
MH370 that was not listed on its manifest
Questions have been raised as Malaysia Airlines said it will close assistance centres in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur for the families of the 239 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 777-200ER jet.
The closures come after rescuers abandoned their fruitless air search for the missing jet, which had focused on a remote area of the Indian Ocean off Australia's west coast.
The mystery was sparked by a spokesman for the company that shipped the batteries telling a Malaysian newspaper that he would not reveal what the remaining 2.253 tonnes of cargo were.
'I cannot reveal more because of the ongoing investigations,' the spokesman told The Star newspaper today. 'We have been told by our legal advisers not to talk about it.'
The spokesman said he could not even name the company which manufactured the batteries, insisting that the matter was confidential.
Questioned about the fact that a mystery cargo was not stated in the manifest, Malaysian Airlines told the paper that the rest of the consignment was 'radio accessories and chargers.'
A statement from the airline said that the freight not specified had been 'declared as radio accessories', despite there being no reference to this in the manifest released publicly last Thursday.
Relatives of passengers aboard flight MH370
prepare to leave a hotel where they have been staying in Beijing after
Malaysia Airlines said it would close all its assistance centres for
relatives the missing
What the manifest does say is that NNR
Global shipped 133 pieces of one item weighing 1.99 tonnes and 67
pieces of another item weighing 463kg for a total 'consolidated weight'
of 2.453 tonnes. Just how many lithium batteries had been loaded, or their weight, are not specified in the manifest, although Malaysian Airlines boss Ahmad Yahya told a media conference in Kuala Lumpur on March 24 that the batteries weighed a total of 200kg.
What the manifest does say, in respect of the lithium batteries, is that 'the package must be handled with care and that a flammability hazard exists if the package is damaged.
'Special procedures must be followed in the event the package is damaged, to include inspection and repacking if necessary.'
Still praying for answers: A relative of a missing passenger inside a prayer room at Lido Hotel in Beijing
There has been earlier speculation that a fire involving the batteries might have been the cause of the aircraft's fate.
According to The Star, shippers NNR Global are located at an air freight forwarding warehouse located less than 100 yards from the Penang International Airport.
'The complex is guarded by the police and only those with passes are allowed entry,' the newspaper said, following its investigation into the unspecified cargo.
A consolidated shipment combines several individual consignments to make up a full container load.
At the port of destination, the consolidated shipment is separated back into individual consignments for delivery to their respective consignees.
The lithium batteries and the other mystery items that are said to be radio parts were addressed to NNR Global Logistics in Beijing, but a company named JHJ International Transportation Co.Ltd of Beijing was to collect the cargo on its behalf.
A policeman naps beside a board written with messages for passengers aboard the missing fight at the hotel
Among the conspiracy theories that have already emerged following the Boeing 777's disappearance on March 8, is that its fate was linked to 20 of the 239 people on board - they were employees of a semi-conductor manufacturing firm which develops components for hi-tech weapons systems and aircraft navigation.
They were employees of Freescale Semiconductor, a Texas technology firm, working in several manufacturing sites in Kuala Lumpur and Tianjin, China, a fact confirmed by a spokeswoman for the company.
The citizens news site Beforeitsnews, said earlier that it was conceivable that MH370 was 'hiding' with its high-tech electronic warfare weaponry.
'In fact, this type of technology is precisely the expertise of Freescale, that has 20 employees on board the missing flight,' said the website.
However, until a detailed description of the 'radio parts' that have not been itemised in the MH370 manifest has been made available, the conspiracy theories are likely to be given an added thrust
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