Two Maldivian co-pilots who were detained in the United Arab Emirates in connection with an attempted hijacking on a flydubai flight have been deported and arrived in the Maldives on Friday morning.
Police spokesperson Ahmed Shiyam said officers went to Velana International Airport to question the two men.
"They have not been arrested yet," Shiyam said. "We are questioning them and clarifying information that needs to be established."
Police have not announced any arrests or charges, and will decide whether to take further action.
The two men worked as co-pilots for the Dubai-based airline flydubai and had been held in the UAE since early October.
Their detention followed an attempt to seize control of flydubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv on 30 September.
An Omani co-pilot on that flight, Hamam Al Hammami, attacked the captain with a crash hammer in the air, according to accounts of the incident. The captain opened the cockpit door, and crew and passengers restrained him and the aircraft was brought back under control.
The aircraft, carrying more than 170 passengers and crew, many of them Israeli, made an emergency landing at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Both Maldivians lived in the same apartment complex as Al Hammami and regularly flew flydubai routes to Israel.
It remains unclear what connection, if any, the two had to the attempt. Neither has been publicly named.
When the men were first detained, the Foreign Ministry said its access to information about the case was limited because the matter fell under the laws of another country.