Australian security agencies have launched an investigation after it emerged that the flydubai co-pilot who allegedly tried to hijack an Israel-bound flight spent about two years in the country as a student.
Disaster was narrowly averted on Wednesday when passengers and crew intervened to stop the co-pilot’s attempt to take control of the flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, which had 182 people onboard and plunged 16,625 feet (5,067 metres) in just over 30 seconds.
The United Arab Emirates’ prosecutor general has said the co-pilot had used a crash axe in the attempted “terrorist attack”, in which the pilot was stabbed mid-air. Numerous media outlets have named the co-pilot as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national.
A source familiar with the case, but not authorised to speak publicly, said the man was granted an Australian student visa in 2014, before arriving in the country to commence a university course the following year.
He left Australia in 2017, and his visa was cancelled in 2019 after authorities confirmed he was no longer enrolled in the course, the source said.
The Australian federal police (AFP) on Sunday said multiple agencies – including the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) – were probing the man’s connections to the country.
“The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (VIC JCTT), comprising the AFP, Victoria Police and ASIO, can confirm it is investigating the man’s links to Australia,” an AFP spokesperson said.
“An update will be provided at an appropriate time.”
US media outlets, including CNN, reported that a now-deleted LinkedIn profile said al-Hammami had studied engineering at an Australian university. Guardian Australia has not verified which university the co-pilot attended.
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It came after a British university, Buckinghamshire New University, said a student named Hamam al-Hammami had “previously completed a distance-learning course in aviation management” at the institution. It added: “He did not undertake any pilot training at the university.”
A flydubai spokesperson on Saturday said the circumstances surrounding the incident were still under investigation and the airline was not in a position to comment further.
The airline’s flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv have been suspended until further notice after the attack. The Omani co-pilot and the flight’s Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, were taken to the UAE, as it leads the investigation. Officials have said a number of countries including Israel are participating.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the co-pilot had been barred from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views. He was then moved to an administrative job at Oman Air, according to the official, before being hired by the UAE-based budget airline flydubai.
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