Australian authorities are investigating the links of a Flydubai co-pilot to the country after RMIT University confirmed he was a former student who left without completing an engineering qualification.
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, comprising the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, is investigating the man’s links to Australia, the AFP said. The probe follows an alleged attempt to seize control of Flydubai flight FZ1073 while it was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30.
The United Arab Emirates prosecutor general has described the incident as a “terrorist attack”. The co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain with a cockpit crash axe and stabbed him during the flight.
The aircraft, carrying 182 people, plunged more than 16,000 feet in about 30 seconds before the crew and passengers intervened. A reserve pilot took control and landed the aircraft at Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
RMIT confirms former student
RMIT said on Monday that it was aware of media reports concerning a former student allegedly involved in the Flydubai incident.
“The individual was enrolled at RMIT but did not successfully complete an engineering qualification,” the university said in a statement.
“As this is an ongoing investigation, the University is unable to provide further comment.”
RMIT did not name the individual or disclose when he attended the university. The Guardian reported that former RMIT engineering students contacted by the newspaper said they did not remember the man.
Australian authorities had already confirmed the investigation into his time in the country. The Guardian reported that a source familiar with the case said the man received an Australian student visa in 2014, arrived in the country in 2015 and left in 2017. The visa was cancelled in 2019 after authorities confirmed he was no longer enrolled.
The ABC separately reported that the visa was not cancelled on character grounds but because the man was no longer enrolled in a course.
Questions over radicalisation
Media reports have identified the co-pilot as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national, although UAE authorities, Flydubai and Israeli officials have not publicly confirmed his identity. Reuters said the man was in UAE custody and that no formal charges had been announced publicly.
The Financial Times reported that al-Hammami had allegedly visited what it described as radical mosques and extremist websites while in Australia, citing people familiar with the investigation. Reuters said it could not independently verify that report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the co-pilot underwent radical Islamist indoctrination and was “clearly suicidal”, but has not specified when or where the alleged indoctrination occurred.
The Australian investigation is examining the man’s connections to the country, but authorities have not publicly said that he was radicalised in Australia or established a link between his time there and the alleged attack.
The incident has also raised questions about how the co-pilot was able to operate a flight to Israel. Oman and Israel do not have diplomatic relations, and Netanyahu has said pilots from countries without diplomatic ties to Israel were not permitted to operate flights to the country.
It remains unclear how the co-pilot came to be assigned to the Tel Aviv-bound flight.
Flydubai has suspended its flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv until further notice while investigations continue. The airline has said it is not in a position to comment further while the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.