New Delhi: A team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) may travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) soon to speak to Indian pilot Smit Machchhar. It may also seek permission from that country’s authorities to interrogate the Omani co-pilot accused of attacking Machchhar.
The top anti-terror agency will soon approach the Centre in this regard. The team also plans to interact with local investigators probing the alleged hijacking attempt aboard the flydubai flight on September 30, Hindustan Times reported.
The team may also seek access to arrested Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami, officials familiar with the matter were quoted as saying.
The NIA registered a case to investigate the alleged larger conspiracy behind the mid-air attack on Captain Machchhar aboard flydubai flight FZ-1073. The incident took place while the aircraft was travelling from Dubai towards Tel Aviv.
“It’s a process since the incident has taken place on foreign soil. A NIA team will soon be sent to the UAE, after obtaining necessary permissions, to record Machchhar’s statement and to get details from the UAE investigators,” a government official has been quoted as saying.
The case was registered by the NIA on October 9, following a direction from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for a thorough investigation into the incident.
The case was registered under Section 3 of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, and Section 16 read with Section 15(1)(a) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, along with relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
The investigation was taken up by the NIA because the attack targeted an Indian national and involved an apparent attempt to hijack the aircraft or cause it to crash.
The agency, in its FIR, stated that the matter required investigation by the agency owing to the gravity of the alleged offence and its wider implications.
“The case is related to an attack on an Indian national with an apparent attempt to hijack or crash the plane, and having regard to the gravity of the offence, its grave national and international ramifications, and the need to unearth the larger conspiracy, the matter requires investigation by NIA,” the FIR stated.
The flight had departed Dubai at 7.05 am Gulf Standard Time on September 30, carrying 174 passengers and six crew members.
Around 9.21 am GST, while flying near the Jordan-Saudi Arabia border, the aircraft reportedly dived rapidly and turned back into Saudi airspace.
Passengers reported that the Omani first officer attacked Captain Machchhar inside the cockpit with an apparent attempt to hijack the aircraft or cause it to crash, the NIA has said in its FIR.
The captain sustained injuries to his head and hands during the attack. Passengers and crew members overpowered the first officer and restrained him, the report states.
Other flydubai pilots aboard the aircraft subsequently took control and landed it safely at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Airport in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia, at 10.45 am GST.
Saudi authorities arrested the first officer following the landing.
An investigation had revealed that the Omani co-pilot had allegedly planned a terrorist attack to seize control of the aircraft and crash it into the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, to cause maximum casualties, a statement by UAE Attorney-General Counsellor Dr Hamad Saif Shamsi suggested.
The alleged plot was intended to be carried out during a flight scheduled to travel from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30, according to the UAE state news agency WAM,
The suspect’s ideological and professional background was checked by the investigators. It has been alleged that signs of radicalisation first emerging in 2017, when he was studying in Australia.
He was allegedly influenced by extremist literature and online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks during that period.