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The co-pilot of a flydubai flight has been charged with attempted murder after a terrifying mid-flight attack in which he allegedly used an axe to attack the lead pilot while flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv. The flight was successfully diverted to Saudi Arabia, and the co-pilot is now facing legal action in the UAE.
ASIO and federal police are investigating the Victorian connections of the flydubai co-pilot who allegedly tried to hijack the aircraft using an axe while flying to Israel.
Police Probe Victorian Connections
The attempted attack came close to killing all 174 passengers and crew, according to witness accounts, and was only prevented because passengers seized al-Hammami while two off-duty pilots stabilized the Boeing 737, landing at a regional airport in Saudi Arabia. According to a now-deleted LinkedIn profile publicised by American newsagencies ABC News and CNN, al-Hammami had posted that he studied engineering at a Victorian university.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirmed that the Victorian joint counterterrorism team, which includes ASIO and Victoria Police, were investigating al-Hammami's links to Australia. A source with knowledge of the inquiry, not authorized to speak on the record, said the suspect was granted a visa to study in Australia in 2014, and was in Melbourne from 2015 to 2017 before leaving. His visa expired in 2019.
When asked about the investigation on Sunday morning, Victorian Premier Ben Carroll said he had not been briefed on al-Hammami's potential connections to Victoria.
Crash Axe Attack Investigation
'It's concerning, and I will follow that up as a matter of priority,' he said. 'I met with the prime minister last week, and will always continue to work with our law enforcement agencies to keep Victoria safe. ' The lead prosecutor in the United Arab Emirates investigation into the incident, Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, confirmed the co-pilot had allegedly attacked the lead pilot inside the cockpit with a crash axe that was fitted on board.
A crash axe is typically kept in the cockpit for use during emergencies such as crashes.
'Investigations into the incident involving flydubai flight FZ1073 found that the co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist attack,' the prosecutor general said in a statement carried by the UAE's state news agency.
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