He visited extremist sites.. Australia investigates the links of the Flydubai co-pilot

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Australian police announced that the authorities are investigating the existence of “connections to Australia” for the Flydubai co-pilot who assaulted the plane’s captain, Smit Machar, during a flight headed to Tel Aviv. A police spokesman said on Sunday: “The Victoria State Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which includes the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Service, is investigating this man’s links to Australia, and an update will be provided in due course,” referring to the Australian Security Intelligence Service.

Meanwhile, two sources familiar with the investigation revealed that the co-pilot, Hammam Al-Hammami, studied at a university in Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, according to what Reuters reported.

Two other informed sources stated that Al-Hamami visited mosques offering extremist rhetoric and extremist websites while he was in Australia, citing two people familiar with the investigation, according to the Financial Times.

They also indicated that the Australian intelligence services were keeping a file on him.

The UAE Attorney General announced yesterday, Saturday, that investigations into the flight, which was heading to Israel from Dubai, revealed that the plane’s co-pilot attacked the pilot with an emergency axe, describing the matter as a “terrorist operation.”

While some details have been revealed over the past few days about the past of Al-Hamami, who is 29 years old.

Royal Air Maroc confirmed that he underwent three-month training with the company in 2025, after leaving the Omani Aviation Police following his suspension from working in the air, due to doubts about his behavior, but his application to work for them after that was rejected.

While the British University of Buckinghamshire New York said that he had enrolled in a distance learning course in aviation management, but it did not include flight training.

While other sources reported that Al-Hamami, born to an Omani father and a Syrian mother, had traveled to Syria during the civil war and revolution, suggesting that he may have known some extremist ideas there.