Flydubai FZ1073 inquiry widens as New Zealand and Australia confirm links

New Zealand police have opened an inquiry into how long the co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 spent in the country. They say they are working with other agencies as needed. Assistant Commissioner Michael Johnson confirmed officers knew the man had lived in New Zealand before the incident, but he would not give further detail.

The move follows a counter-terrorism investigation in Australia into his connections there. According to reporting cited by the source, neither inquiry has publicly settled where any radicalisation is said to have taken place, and no wider network has been identified.

Melbourne's RMIT University said on 5 October that the co-pilot had been enrolled as a student but did not finish an engineering qualification. The institution did not release his name or say when he attended. The statement is the first institutional confirmation of an Australian link previously attributed to unnamed sources.

In Washington, US Vice-President JD Vance said on 5 October that he had not seen conclusive evidence connecting Iran to the attack. Intelligence agencies were still looking at whether Tehran was involved, he said, and he would not pre-empt their findings.

His remarks temper earlier suggestions of possible Iranian involvement. Claims about the co-pilot's motives, any earlier plans and potential foreign ties have not been publicly confirmed.