Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to footer Suspected Flydubai attacker received flight training in New Zealand Co-pilot has been interrogated by Israel’s Shin Bet under UAE-led investigation into alleged attempted hijacking Flydubai flight 1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted last week after the co-pilot attacked the captain © Ammar Awad/ Kieran Cash in Adelaide, Chloe Cornish in Dubai and Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The alleged attacker on a recent Flydubai flight from Dubai to Israel received flight training in New Zealand after studying in Australia, according to authorities, as investigators rush to scrutinise his background. Prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates have accused the man, who has been identified in media reports as Hamam al-Hammami, of using an axe to attack the captain of Flydubai flight 1073 as he “attempted to carry out a terrorist act” last week.
He was fought off by the captain before being overpowered by passengers. The plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia before the passengers were transferred to Israel. Michael Johnson, assistant commissioner of New Zealand Police, said without naming Hammami that the suspect was in New Zealand “between November 2018 and May 2019 on a six-month student visa”.
New Zealand police said they were “reviewing records and undertaking enquiries with regard to the time [Hammami] spent in New Zealand”. The timing of Hammami’s flight training in New Zealand is likely to add to scrutiny over his time in Australia, where authorities over the weekend said they were investigating his links to the country. RMIT University in Melbourne said on Monday that “a former student alleged to be involved in the Flydubai flight incident” was enrolled at the institution “between 2015 and 2017 but did not successfully complete an engineering qualification”.
It added it could not provide further comment during an ongoing investigation. The FT previously reported that Hammami had allegedly visited radical mosques and extremist websites in Australia, citing two people familiar with the investigation. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the country’s intelligence service, held a “file” on him, the people added.
John Coyne, director of the national security programme at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, cautioned against drawing premature conclusions about potential intelligence failures and Hammami’s radicalisation. ASIO declined to comment, directing enquiries to the Home Affairs office. New Zealand Security Intelligence Service did not respond to request for comment.
Israeli officials have identified Hammami, who is being held in the UAE under an Emirati-led investigation into the alleged attempted hijacking, as an Omani national. He was interrogated by Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence directorate this week, according to a person familiar with the matter, who added that the two countries were co-ordinating closely on the investigation. The Israeli intelligence operatives were probing whether Hammami acted alone or colluded with others, another person with knowledge of the matter said.Hammami has not yet been charged.
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