A Flydubai co-pilot who tried to hijack a passenger jet intended to fly it into the terminal at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport “with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life”, the United Arab Emirates’ chief prosecutor said on Friday.
Attorney-general Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said the co-pilot — who the authorities have not officially named — only became an aviator in order to carry out a “premeditated terrorist plot” that was intended to be a copycat of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
He twice flew with Flydubai from Dubai to Tel Aviv to memorise the route and the layout of Ben Gurion airport, and “prepared himself both psychologically and physically to carry out the plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting terrorism and training in boxing under a private coach”, Al Shamsi added.
The co-pilot — who the FT and other media organisations have named as Omani-Syrian aviator Hamam al-Hammami — claimed to have acted alone in the attempted hijacking, according to a “detailed confession” given to the UAE authorities, Al Shamsi said in a statement.
The UAE “continues to examine the evidence, investigate the possible involvement of accomplices or other connections, and complete its review of recordings and technical reports”, he added.
UAE prosecutors said last week that the co-pilot of Flydubai flight 1073 attacked the captain of the jet, Smit Machchhar, with an axe in the cockpit as he sought to take control of the aircraft on September 30. He was fought off by Machchhar before being overpowered by passengers.
The UAE has asserted that the incident falls under its jurisdiction because the flight was registered in Dubai.
The attorney-general’s statement on Friday contained details about the co-pilot’s background and path to radicalisation.
He joined Flydubai in January, having previously worked at Oman Air and Royal Air Maroc, and passed all the usual pilot vetting checks including by providing a “certificate of good conduct”.
Al Shamsi said: “None of the procedures revealed any indications of his extremist views or his intention to carry out a terrorist plot.”
While studying in Australia, the co-pilot began “reading extremist literature and following online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks”, according to the attorney-general’s statement.
In Australia, he attended a mosque affiliated with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and became linked with a group that was allegedly funded by the Muslim Brotherhood, it added.
The UAE authorities have also taken statements from Machchhar and others on Flydubai flight 1073.
Flydubai is owned by an investment fund of the Dubai government. The airline has so far declined to comment on its vetting procedures.
Al Shamsi said the UAE authorities will release more information as their investigation continues.