Dubai: Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai Police Chief, has called for an international police team from the UAE, UK, Ireland, France and Germany to be set up, to solve the murder case of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh.
The call was made after finding that the suspects in the murder are international criminals sought by the UAE for committing a crime on its land. They used passports from four other countries and so are also wanted by them.
If the Israeli organization Mossad is proved to be behind the murder, Lt Gen Dahi said that an Interpol Red Notice for the arrest of the head of Mossad should be issued, for murder.
In an interview with Dubai TV on Thursday, the Police Chief said the passports used by the suspects had all the genuine specifications of the passports from the respective countries and there is no circular from the Interpol that these passports have been stolen.
However, it is possible that an intelligence body may have forged these passports through the same manufacturing unit that made the original passports for these countries.
"Three days after discovering the crime, I announced that it was no more mysterious, since we had all their pictures after 20 hours," Lt Gen Dahi said during the interview.
"Our men worked in a highly professional way, and we, at Dubai Police, know how to turn back the clock and start from the beginning to unveil a crime, even though the suspects could see the cameras in some places and did not see them in other places," he said of the CCTV footage at the Bustan Rotana Hotel where the murder took place.
"It is strange that the body behind them [the murderers] considers its work an act of heroism or an achievement, totally ignoring that we were not following up Mossad in our work to make breakthroughs," he said.
"I am mentioning Mossad now, after it turned out that seven out of the suspects carry British passports and have been living in Israel for many years. It is normal that the party carrying out such acts in Israel is Mossad, which sends execution teams and terror groups. It is not 'Peace Now'," he said.
'Peace Now' is a non-governmental Israeli organisation that works to achieve peace and conciliation with the Palestinian people.
"This operation was not an intelligent one, because we can tell when an operation is intelligent or stupid. It is not difficult for any police technician to open locks and doors, let alone an intelligence body," he said.
"Besides, Al Mabhouh did not take basic security precautions, and if he had at least one person with him, they [the suspects] would not have been able to kill him. It was clear that he had that feeling that he was anonymous and he was not careful enough, especially seeing as they took the same elevator as him and walked behind him to his room, monitoring his movements easily,” he added.
Fake passports
Lt Gen Dahi said the training courses Dubai Police members received to identify fake passports of foreign countries were given by the security bodies in the countries concerned, thus they know the exact specifications of the passports.
"Accordingly, there were no indications that these passports were counterfeit... we have contacted the Interpol," he said.
"However, the pictures taken are not fake, and they show the suspects clearly," he said. The Police Chief continued that advanced countries in the 21st century must rise above the practices of old times and must not send groups to murder the people they cannot reach.
If Israel claims that it is a state of law, then where is the law behind all these acts? Is it the right of any country to chase wanted people to other countries and kill them on the streets and in their rooms, or is it the law of the jungle for these countries? he wondered.
He pointed out that there were other suspects’ names as well, which have still not been announced by the police.
"We learned from His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, not to announce any information until it is confirmed," Lt Gen Dahi said, adding that the large number of people who came to kill Al Mabhouh, who was alone, shows cowardliness and weakness.
He said Al Mabhouh was transiting in Dubai before traveling to China and did not meet anyone in the emirate. He just went shopping and returned to his hotel where the crime took place.
Lt Gen Dahi said it was strange that some Palestinian officials let their leaders move without protection, especially since Al Mabhouh was very important.
He denied reports that Al Mabhouh’s mission was related to an arms deal and described them as illogical.
"Why would he subject himself to cameras and move openly when he could have gone directly to these countries that supply arms? It is just a story told by the Israeli media to justify the crime," he said.
Palestinians in custody
One of the two Palestinians held in custody, he continued, met a suspect in a suspicious place, time and manner, while the second is closely related to him and was found to have already been sentenced to death by one of the Palestinian parties.
"We held him so that no one would come and execute him here as well, and to find what was his relationship with the first," he said.
Lt Gen Dahi criticized the different Palestinian groups that are currently pointing the finger of blame at each other, in a way that is harmful to both Palestinians and Arabs, without even waiting for Dubai Police to announce facts about the two Palestinian men in custody.
He said that laboratory tests did not show any evidence that poison was used in the murder. However, one laboratory said it was a possibility, which will take approximately a month to confirm.
He stressed that Dubai Police is determined to pursue the suspects in legal ways and will find them as soon as possible.
"The murder will make us introduce more stringent procedures to control entry into the country, using state-of-the-art equipment without anybody noticing the procedures," he said.
