'Key suspect in Mabhouh killing arrested 2 months ago'

Dubai police chief tells Abu Dhabi newspaper 'The National' that a Western country made arrest; unclear whether suspect still being held.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
dubai police chief tamim khalfan 311 (photo credit: AP)
dubai police chief tamim khalfan 311
(photo credit: AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A key suspect in the killing of a senior Hamas operative in Dubai was arrested in a Western country two months ago, according to Dubai's police chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim.
Tamim told the Abu Dhabi government-owned daily The National on Monday that the suspect played a key role in the January 19 killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
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However he said that the country that made the arrest asked that details of it not be made public.
It was unclear whether the suspect was still being held.
A man suspected of having taken part in the assassination in the killing earlier this year had originally operated under a name belonging to a UK-born IDF soldier killed during a battle with Egyptian forces in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend.
The report centered on a suspected assassin who entered Dubai using a British passport registered to Christopher Lockwood.
UK officials later found that the passport was authentic, and traced Lockwood to a London address that was monitored for a while, until it became apparent that Lockwood did not inhabit the premises, the report said.
YAAKOV LAPPIN contributed to this report.