Dubai: A UAE government official has denied a newspaper report that the body of an Iranian-born British national has been found in Fujairah.

The official told Gulf News that the report is false because no body has been found.

Confirming the news, a source from the Preventive Security department said that since July 25, no Briton's body has been found in the country, Gulf News learnt.

The Times newspaper reported that the body of Iranian-born Abbas Yazdanpanah Yazdi, 44, who disappeared in Dubai on June 25, has been found in Fujairah. The newspaper said "fears are mounting that a British man has been kidnapped and killed in the UAE by an Iranian hit squad."

The newspaper said the case could embarrass the British Government after allegations that it betrayed him to Tehran.

The report said he had been abducted by Iranian agents. It added that friends of Yazdi, who has close ties to senior officials in the Iranian regime, said his body had been found in Fujairah.

The UAE official stressed that Yazdi's body has not been found. He said the newspaper report was triggered by posts Yazdi's friends made on Facebook.