The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will soon approach the Centre to seek permission for a team to travel to the UAE to record the statement of Indian pilot Smit Machchhar and interact with local investigators to obtain details of their findings in connection with last month’s hijacking attempt on Flydubai flight FZ-1073, officials aware of the details said.
The agency may also seek access to the arrested Omani co-pilot – Hamam al-Hammami – for questioning, the officials added.
Since Machchhar is an Indian citizen, the federal anti-terror probe agency last week filed a case to investigate a “larger conspiracy” in the hijacking attempt. “The case is related to 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,” NIA’s First Information Report (FIR), filed last Friday and reviewed by HT, said.
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The agency has invoked sections of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the FIR.
On September 30, Machchhar was attacked with the cockpit’s crash axe by co-pilot al-Hammami who, according to UAE investigators, attempted to seize control of the Tel Aviv-bound plane. Despite suffering deep cuts to head and hands, Machchhar unlocked the cockpit door of flight FZ-1073, which had taken off from Dubai, allowing passengers and crew to overpower the attacker. A reserve crew on board then flew the Boeing 737 MAX 8, with 174 people on board, to an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
He is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in the UAE.
Also read | NIA invokes Anti-hijacking Act to probe flydubai incident, stabbing of Indian pilot Smit Machchhar
“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,” said a government official, who didn’t want to be named.
Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, attorney general of the UAE, said in a statement last week that al-Hammami was radicalised while studying in Australia. The attacker, al-Shamsi said, drew inspiration from the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001. After hijacking the plane, his target was the terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
Also read | Multiple Security Failures Allowed FlyDubai Pilot Into Cockpit
Leaders from across the world, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, have praised Machchhar for averting a “9/11-like tragedy”. Israel last week announced it will honour Machchhar with the Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism for his “sheer bravery and sound professionalism” in averting a catastrophe.
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.Read More