Dubai Police to request extradition of suspect in Al Mabhouh murder

Authorities to request for extradition of latest arrested suspect in Hamas man’s murder in Dubai

By Siham Al Najami

Dubai: Dubai Police will request the extradition of an Israeli arrested in Poland on suspicion of being linked to the assassination of a top Hamas commander in Dubai if it is proven that he had direct involvement in the murder.

Uri Brodsky was arrested in Warsaw in early June following the issuance of an international arrest warrant by German auth-orities for his suspected role in helping issue a fake German passport to one of the operatives involved in the Dubai assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh on January 19.

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Dubai Police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim said police will be satisfied with the suspect being prosecuted in Germany provided that passport forgery is his only contribution to the operation.

“However, if there is a direct link to the assassination on our soil we will request his extradition for the crime,” he told Gulf News.

The list of suspects released by Dubai Police included only one German, Michael Bodenheimer, out of the more than 30 suspects believed to be involved in the operation.

It is believed that the list of suspects involved in the assassination could grow. Dahi however did not comment on the issue.

Asked if a team from Dubai Police will be sent to question the suspect in cooperation with Polish or German authorities, he said police are in contact “with every single country involved in this case”.

He added that he was under “no doubt” about the involvement of US-based company Payoneer, which provided the prepaid credit cards used by the agents in carrying out the operation. “I will continue to believe so until it is proven otherwise,” he said.

The CEO of Payoneer, Yuval Tal, was a former special-ops commando in the Israeli army, and shareholders in Payoneer also have close connections with the Israeli intelligence community.

Given the size of the team involved in the assassination, Dahi speculated that some of the suspects whose names were released could have been tasked with “information gathering and surveillance jobs for future operations”.

He lashed out at Israel, saying it was not a country that was governed by laws but rather by settling scores “in a gang-like manner”.

Source: Gulf News