UK interviews 'passport victims'

Dubai Police chief Dahi Khalfam Tamim: We have DNA, fingerprints of hit team.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, AP
dubai police chief tamim khalfan 311 (photo credit: AP)
dubai police chief tamim khalfan 311
(photo credit: AP)
The British Embassy in Israel announced over the weekend that a special police investigator had been flown in to meet with the dual British-Israeli nationals whose British passports were used in the assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai.
Embassy spokesman Rafi Shamir said the officer will meet with the identity theft victims soon. He had no further details Saturday.
Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed in a Dubai hotel room last month by assassins using fake passports of real people. Dubai Police have identified 26 suspects carrying foreign passports. At least six are dual British-Israeli nationals living in Israel.
Authorities in Dubai have found DNA traces of one of the suspects in the January killing of Mabhouh, as well as finger prints of several members of the suspected hit squad, Dubai Police chief Lt.-Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim told the Al-Arabiya television network on Friday.
Earlier Friday, Tamim announced that Dubai intends to seek the establishment of an international team to investigate Mabhouh’s death. Such a team could lead to the arrest of 26 suspects identified so far, against whom police in Dubai have “clear cut evidence,” he explained.
In an interview with xxAl-Bayan, a newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, Tamim revealed that a special Dubai Police team has already visited several European states in the framework of the investigation into Mabhouh’s killing.
Via European and Australian diplomatic conduits, the Dubai Police commander hopes to establish an international team with members from at least seven states that will “follow the gang that hit Mabhouh.”
He went on to send a message to the Mossad, saying, “There is no point in hiding, wearing a costume or using false identities.”
Tamim has already blamed Israel for the death of the senior Hamas operative, saying he was “99 percent sure” the Mossad was behind the act.
Tamim said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would be put on an international “wanted list” if it was conclusively proved that the Mossad was behind the Mahbouh’s assassination.
“Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahuwill head the list (of an international arrest warrant) if it is proventhat Mossad is behind the murder,” Tamim said.
“Dagan, the boss, should admit the crime ... or present a categoricaldenial. But his current attitude shows he is afraid. Let him be a man,and tell the truth,” he added.