> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theoceaniacables.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Flydubai Co-Pilot's Melbourne Years Probed Over Hijack Plot - URL: https://www.theoceaniacables.com/flydubai-co-pilots-melbourne-years-probed-over-hijack-plot/ - Published: 2026-10-15T02:40:01.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-15T02:40:01.000Z - Description: UAE prosecutors say the flydubai co-pilot’s radicalisation began in Melbourne in 2017. Australian agencies are investigating his RMIT years. - Author: The Oceania Cables - Tags: Australia, Terrorism, Radicalism, Extremism, Israel ## **Summary:** Australian counter-terrorism agencies have opened an investigation into the three years Hammam al-Hammami spent as a student in Melbourne, after prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates said the co-pilot's path to a terrorist attack began there in 2017\. Al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national, attacked the captain of flydubai Flight FZ1073 with a crash axe over Saudi Arabia on 30 September 2026\. The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team — the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and ASIO — confirmed on 4 October that it was examining his links to Australia. The Melbourne claim comes from al-Hammami himself. UAE Attorney-General Counsellor Dr Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said on 9 October that the suspect had admitted regularly attending a mosque affiliated with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), where he became acquainted with people connected to an Islamic centre known as MyCentre. Al-Hammami was enrolled at RMIT from 2015 to 2017 in an engineering degree he did not finish. No Australian authority has corroborated the account. MyCentre's imam, Samir Mohtadi, said on 12 October that he had never met al-Hammami and that the centre held no record of him attending. Neither Mohtadi nor the centre is accused of wrongdoing. What Australian agencies knew before the attack is contested: the Financial Times reported that intelligence services held a file on al-Hammami, while a senior source in the national security community told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that no serious file existed. Three counter-terrorism experts told The Age the radicalisation appeared to have happened well away from any mosque or recognised community. The centre's parent charity holds a Department of Home Affairs grant totalling $68,136.20, approved in March 2024 and running to December 2028\. Pauline Hanson's One Nation demanded on 12 October to know whether security advice was sought before approval. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke called it a reasonable question on 11 October and said he would seek further information. His department has not said whether the grant is under review. No charges have been announced. ## **Detailed Report** ### **1\. Co-Pilot Axe Attack Over Saudi Arabia, 30 September** Flight FZ1073 left Dubai for Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on the morning of 30 September 2026, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 carrying more than 170 Israelis. In Saudi airspace the co-pilot took the emergency crash axe from the flight deck and attacked the captain, Smit Machchhar, an Indian national. The aircraft fell from near 34,000 feet, losing nearly 14,000 feet in under 30 seconds per Israeli officials cited by Reuters. The wounded captain opened the cockpit door, and passengers, cabin crew and at least one reserve pilot forced their way in and subdued al-Hammami. The crew squawked 7700 for a general emergency and 7500 for unlawful interference, stabilised the aircraft and diverted to Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia, landing safely. Passengers flew on to Israel after about eight hours on the ground. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on 1 October that the co-pilot had undergone Islamist radical indoctrination, was clearly suicidal and had very likely intended to bring the aircraft down. Two Israeli security officials said the early assessment was that he acted alone. Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said both pilots were treated in hospital and flown to Abu Dhabi on 1 October. The UAE leads the investigation. ### **2\. UAE Attorney-General: Radicalisation Began in Melbourne in 2017** Counsellor Dr Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, Attorney-General of the United Arab Emirates, announced detailed findings on 9 October. Investigators had reconstructed the suspect's ideological and professional history and placed the first signs of his drift towards extremism in 2017, his final year in Australia. He absorbed takfiri ideology through extremist literature and online material glorifying terrorist groups and suicide attacks. Takfiri ideology holds that Muslims who fall short of its own standard have left the faith altogether, which makes them legitimate targets of violence — the doctrine by which groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State justify killing Muslims. He took inspiration from the 11 September 2001 attacks, and told investigators that the idea of a similar operation shaped his decision to become a pilot. Per Al Arabiya English's reporting of the statement, the suspect admitted regularly attending a mosque affiliated with RMIT University, where he became acquainted with people associated with an Islamic centre known as MyCentre. He told investigators the centre was run by a Lebanese man known as Abu Hamza and claimed it received support from an association linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. The findings do not name that association. The mosque al-Hammami described is RMIT's, in Carlton; MyCentre's Ayesha Mosque is a separate venue in Broadmeadows. The plot itself was premeditated: al-Hammami intended to seize the aircraft and fly it into the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion, aiming for the greatest possible loss of life. He prepared by steeping himself in propaganda and training in boxing with a private coach, and flew the Tel Aviv route twice to study the approach and the airport before acting on his third flight. He confessed in detail with his lawyer present and said he acted alone, which prosecutors are still testing. The airline's recruitment checks found nothing: he held a valid pilot's licence and a certificate of good conduct, and nothing in the process revealed his views or his intention. Every element placing al-Hammami in a Melbourne mosque or near MyCentre rests on his own words under interrogation. The findings establish no involvement by any centre or named individual. Al Shamsi said final results would come at the conclusion of procedures. Maldivian outlets Mihaaru and Adhadhu reported on 3 and 4 October that two Maldivian flydubai co-pilots had been detained as the investigation widened, on the basis that they were close to al-Hammami at work. The UAE has not confirmed this. ### **3\. Al-Hammami's Path: Melbourne Student to flydubai Co-Pilot** Al-Hammami arrived on an Australian student visa issued in 2014 and lived in Melbourne from 2015 to 2017\. RMIT confirmed his enrolment across those years and said he did not complete an engineering qualification, declining further comment during an ongoing investigation. He left in 2017 — the year the UAE findings mark as the start of his drift — and his visa was cancelled in 2019 for non-enrolment, not on character grounds. He trained with the L3 Airline Academy in Britain, now part of Acron Aviation, in 2018 and 2019, per The Telegraph. New Zealand Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Johnson said on 6 October that al-Hammami was in New Zealand from 30 November 2018 to 23 May 2019 on a six-month student visa, completing part of his flight training for a UK company no longer operating there. He flew for Oman Air from 2020 to 2024\. Officials and diplomats speaking anonymously have said he was grounded and moved to a desk role over concerns about extremism before resigning; Oman's government has not confirmed any such bar. Three months of theoretical training with Royal Air Maroc in early 2025 ended without selection, and he was hired by flydubai in January 2026. ### **4\. Counter-Terrorism Team Investigates as File Claims Are Contested** The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, comprising the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and ASIO, confirmed on 4 October 2026 that it was investigating al-Hammami's links to Australia, and said it would provide an update at an appropriate time. Two accounts of what Australian intelligence held on him are in direct conflict. The Financial Times reported, citing two people familiar with the investigation, that al-Hammami had visited radical mosques and browsed extremist websites in Australia, and that Australian intelligence held a file on him. A senior source in the national security community told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that no serious file had been opened and that ASIO had not investigated him at any serious level. The source suggested he may have surfaced in a database, or been mentioned in connection with someone else. Three anti-terror experts familiar with Victoria's Muslim communities told The Age that the radicalisation looked to have occurred well away from any mosque or recognised community. One described such cases as typically self-directed and online, with the subject pulling away from those around him. ### **5\. MyCentre Imam Samir Mohtadi Denies Ever Meeting Al-Hammami** Samir Mohtadi, imam of MyCentre in Melbourne's northern suburb of Broadmeadows, issued a written statement on 12 October 2026 rejecting allegations connecting him to al-Hammami: > I (Abu Hamza) strongly reject recent media reports suggesting any connection between myself, Multicultural Youth Centre and the co-pilot, al-Hammami. I have never met al-Hammami, who has been referred to in recent media reports, and we have no record of him ever attending our centre. The relevant authorities should have verified these claims with me before releasing or publishing such information. Throughout my life, I have consistently preached peace, and both my work and the work of the centre have always focused on promoting peace, harmony, mutual respect, and community wellbeing. We unequivocally reject violence in all its forms. I strongly reject any attempt to associate me or Multicultural Youth Centre with al-Hammami. Such claims are unfounded, misleading and risk unfairly damaging the reputation of an organisation that has served the wider Australian community for decades. No Australian authority has confirmed that al-Hammami met anyone associated with the centre. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils rejected any insinuation of a link between MyCentre and violent extremism on 11 October, calling the centre a respected organisation with a long record of constructive work. Neither the centre nor Mohtadi faces any allegation of criminal wrongdoing. ### **6\. MyCentre Imam's Public Record: From Benbrika Trial to 2025 Sermons** The confession identifies the centre's manager only as a Lebanese man known as Abu Hamza. Mohtadi goes by that name, and his public record stretches from a terrorism trial more than a decade before the attack to sermons delivered a year before it. He appeared as a prosecution witness in the Operation Pendennis trial of Abdul Nacer Benbrika, which followed a 2005 police operation against terrorism suspects. He testified that he had known Benbrika some 15 years, called his version of Islam harsh, and said he had warned him that attacks would kill innocents and damage the Muslim community. Under cross-examination he acknowledged that many young Muslims, himself included, had watched extremist material including beheading videos. In 2017 he gave a witness statement describing MyCentre as promoting anti-extremism. In 2010 he travelled through several Middle Eastern countries with Robert Musa Cerantonio, raising funds for the centre. Cerantonio became one of the most prominent English-language propagandists for Islamic State and was convicted in 2019, sentenced to seven years for leading a group planning an incursion into the southern Philippines. The most recent material in the record is a sermon delivered at the Australian Bosnian Islamic Centre in Melbourne's west in June 2025, more than a year before the attack. The Australian attended and reported the sermon at the time. Quoting the sermon as spoken in Arabic and translated, the paper reported Mohtadi praying: "Oh Allah, grant victory to our mujahideen (fighters) in Palestine, strengthen their feet, and grant them a clear triumph," and "Oh Allah, cast terror into the hearts of the Zionists and shake the ground beneath their feet." He told the congregation: "We don't believe in a state called Israel … every righteous human being believes there is Palestine and there is no Israel." Of Zionists he said: "They are bloodsucking human beings … They're scavengers. They are not humans, I swear by Allah." After the attack of 14 December 2025 at Bondi Beach, in which Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, opened fire during a Hanukkah gathering, killing 15 people and wounding dozens before the father was shot dead by police, Mohtadi posted a video on the IISNA/MyCentre platform. The Australian reported on 16 December 2025 that he praised the bystander who disarmed one of the gunmen — "You are my hero … I would have done exactly the same thing that you've done" — and condemned the attackers: "As for these terrorists, I wish you hell." The same article noted the contrast between the video and the June sermon language. ### **7\. Federal Money, and a Demand to Know Who Checked** The confession has drawn attention to the public funding of the centre it named. Multicultural Youth Centre Ltd, MyCentre's parent charity, holds a Department of Home Affairs grant of $68,136.20, and the minister responsible is being asked whether security advice preceded it. GrantConnect, the federal grants register, records the grant under the Community Language Schools Grants Program: an initial $36,960 approved on 19 March 2024, with a later variation adding $31,176.20 and extending the term to 19 December 2028, alongside a $500 Australian Federal Police community grant in 2018. Pauline Hanson's One Nation issued a media release on 12 October 2026: > This is an extraordinary and deeply concerning revelation. The radicalisation of the man accused of trying to hijack an aircraft and carry out a 9/11-style terrorist attack reportedly began in Melbourne as an international student. Now we learn the Islamic organisation he associated with received not one, but two taxpayer-funded grants from the Albanese Labor government in the last two financial years. … Tony Burke must answer whether he or his department sought security advice before signing off these grants and whether any other organisations linked to people under ASIO investigation have received taxpayer money under this program. The register shows one Home Affairs grant, approved in March 2024 and later varied, rather than two across two financial years. Burke addressed the grants on 11 October on ABC Insiders and in an interview with Andrew Clennell of News24\. He said he did not have the detail immediately to hand and would seek it, called the question reasonable, and said it was important for the government to use every lever available to deny oxygen to those who want to do harm. Home Affairs has not said whether the grant is under review, paused or paid in full, and has not detailed whether it underwent security screening beyond standard processes. Three further sums have been reported without independent verification. The Age, citing state and federal documents, reported a $730,000 Victorian grant for community infrastructure and $1.17 million in federal funding subsidising childcare worker wages. The Australian reported a $393,000 allocation in the 2023–24 Victorian budget for a Centre for Muslim Women's Wellbeing, recipient unverified. ### **Conclusion** Al-Hammami stands accused by UAE prosecutors of a premeditated attempt to seize Flight FZ1073 and crash it into the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport, on the strength of a confession given in the presence of his lawyer. The confession dates the start of his radicalisation to Melbourne in 2017, places him at a mosque affiliated with RMIT, and describes an acquaintance with people associated with MyCentre. It does not place him at the centre itself. No Australian authority has corroborated the account, and the centre's imam says he has never met him. Neither Mohtadi nor MyCentre is accused of wrongdoing.