Australia probes flydubai co-pilot's links to the country

A multi-agency Australian counterterrorism unit is investigating links to Australia of the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073, who stabbed his captain and then attempted to hijack the plane, a police spokesperson said on Sunday. The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team - which comprises federal police, Victorian state police and the ASIO intelligence agency - were "investigating the man's links to Australia," the Australian Federal Police spokesperson said. Two sources briefed on the investigation said the co-pilot studied at a university in Melbourne, capital of the Australian state of Victoria. A third source said he studied at RMIT University around a decade ago. RMIT declined to comment. The co-pilot of the flydubai flight FZ1073, which was bound for Israel from Dubai on Wednesday, attacked the pilot with an emergency crash axe, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday, calling the incident a "terrorist attack". Flight FZ1073 would have felt like a "vertical roller coaster", when it plunged 16,000 feet in about 30 seconds before being levelled out and landing safely, according to an aviation instructor who recreated the descent in a flight simulator for Reuters. Two sources have said the co-pilot is an Omani national named Hamam Al-Hamami. Israeli officials have not ?named the co-pilot but said that he is from Oman. UAE authorities and flydubai have not publicly disclosed the co-pilot's identity. Reuters could not independently reach Al-Hamami, who is in UAE custody, for comment.