UAE Claims Pilot Who Stabbed Copilot Had Drifted Towards Extremism While Studying in Australia
· World · BBC News, NDTV
The Omani co-pilot aboard the Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv allegedly stabbed the captain with an emergency crash axe and attempted to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's airport in a suicide attack. UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi stated the 29-year-old pilot was inspired by al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks and showed signs of extremist drift beginning in 2017 while studying at RMIT university in Melbourne. Melbourne university RMIT earlier confirmed the pilot had studied there but left before completing his engineering qualification. The pilot told investigators he prepared psychologically and physically by intensifying exposure to terrorism-promoting material and training in boxing under a private coach. More than 170 passengers and crew were on board flight FZ1073 when the incident occurred on 30 September. Australian authorities have been looking into the pilot's links to Australia following the incident.
Why it matters
The incident raises immediate security concerns for aviation routes between the Gulf and Israel, and underscores how foreign student visas can be exploited for radicalization, potentially affecting Indian travellers on international flights and prompting tighter visa scrutiny.
Read the original report — BBC News
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