A Victorian counterterrorism team is investigating the Australian links of the flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking his captain with a crash axe on a Dubai-to-Israel flight, police said on Sunday.
A multi-agency Australian counterterrorism unit is investigating links to Australia of the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073, who stabbed his captain and tried to hijack the aircraft, an Australian Federal Police spokesperson said on Sunday.
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, made up of federal police, Victorian police and the ASIO intelligence agency, is examining those links, Reuters reported.
Two sources briefed on the investigation said the co-pilot studied at a university in Melbourne. A third source said he studied at RMIT University about a decade ago. RMIT declined to comment.
The flight was bound for Israel from Dubai on Wednesday. The United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday that the co-pilot attacked the pilot with an emergency crash axe and called the incident a terrorist attack. More than 170 passengers and crew were on board, mostly Israelis.
Two sources told Reuters the co-pilot is an Omani national named Hamam Al-Hamami. Israeli officials have not named him but said he is from Oman. UAE authorities and flydubai have not publicly disclosed his identity. He is in custody in the UAE.