Israeli official says FlyDubai co-pilot planned attack before joining airline

An Israeli official confirmed on Friday that the co-pilot was transferred Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates. He was moved for questioning by Israeli, UAE and Saudi officials.

The case concerns Wednesday's FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and attempted to crash the aircraft. The captain unlocked the cockpit door, allowing passengers to overpower the co-pilot, before two off-duty pilots gained control and made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

There were 174 people aboard, and no passengers were seriously injured. The pilot sustained stab wounds. Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries and that the co-pilot remained in custody on Thursday.

The co-pilot's motive in the alleged attack remains unknown.

Israel's Transportation Ministry says it has not received the additional funding and positions it requested as a condition for accepting responsibility for charter-flight security. Its statement disputes a claim that it had received those resources about a year earlier and failed to use them.

In its account of the budget discussions, the ministry said the Finance Ministry had made a written commitment to provide the additional funding and positions. It said it had repeatedly asked for that commitment to be honored.

The dispute comes after an attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv prompted scrutiny of responsibility for securing foreign flights entering Israel. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed National Security Council head Shmuel Ben-Ezra to appoint an overseer to conduct a thorough review of all security aspects of foreign civil aviation to Israel.

The United Arab Emirates' top prosecutor said Friday that the co-pilot who attacked the captain of FlyDubai flight 1073 had planned to crash the aircraft into Tel Aviv's international airport in a suicide attack. The Israel-bound flight carried 182 people and made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

The unnamed Omani co-pilot is in custody in the UAE. The prosecutor's findings said he had drawn inspiration from al Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and intended to cause the greatest possible loss of life.

The prosecutor said the flight was the co-pilot's third trip to Tel Aviv and that he had used the two earlier journeys to plan the attack.

The prosecutor's findings said the co-pilot had met the professional and security requirements for employment, including having a pilot's licence, supplying a certificate of good conduct and completing the required checks.

The findings also said none of those procedures had revealed indications of his extremist views or his intention to carry out a terrorist plot.