Australia’s federal counterterrorism apparatus has opened an inquiry into the Australian connections of the flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of a passenger jet bound for Tel Aviv.
The Australian Federal Police said on Sunday that the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team was examining the man’s links to the country. The team brings together the federal police, Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Authorities have not announced a charge in Australia or said that their inquiry has reached any conclusion.
The Australian investigation is separate from proceedings led by the United Arab Emirates over the cockpit incident aboard flydubai flight 1073. The UAE prosecutor general has described the episode as a terrorist attack and said the co-pilot assaulted the captain with an emergency crash axe. The aircraft, carrying 174 people from Dubai to Tel Aviv, made an emergency landing in north-western Saudi Arabia.
Australian reporting has identified a period in which the suspect studied in Melbourne. The ABC reported that he entered on a student visa, studied in Australia between 2015 and 2017 and later left the country. It said his visa was cancelled in 2019 because he was no longer enrolled, not on character grounds.
Those details explain the Australian team’s jurisdictional interest, but they do not establish where any alleged radicalisation occurred or what Australian agencies knew at the time. Claims about the man’s online activity and attendance at particular places of worship have not been publicly substantiated by Australian authorities.
The AFP said it would provide an update when appropriate. Flydubai has said a full investigation is under way. The identity reported by international media has not been formally confirmed by UAE authorities, and no court has made findings about the co-pilot’s conduct.
