Two arrested in Chechen Yamadayev's killing in Dubai

Dubai: Dubai Police have arrested two suspects accused of assassinating Sulim Yamadayev.

The Chechen was shot dead on March 28 at Jumeirah Beach Residence. The operation was carried out as a ‘settling of accounts' among Chechens.

Police have also identified four more suspects involved in the killing of Yamadayev, one of them is Chechnya's Deputy Prime Minister Adam Delimkhanov, who—according to Dubai Police—masterminded the operation.

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, said two out of six suspects have been arrested for their suspected planning and involvement in the assassination of Yamadayev, a bitter adversary of Chechnya's powerful Moscow-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Yamadayev was shot dead, in broad daylight, in the back of the head while leaving his vehicle and heading towards the elevators in the parking lot of Rimal Building 6 of Jumeirah Beach Residence.

Lieutenant General Dahi said an Iranian and a Tajik suspects are in custody and the other four suspects are at large.

They are three Russians and a Kazakh, including Delimkhanov and a member of Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma.

The police have alerted the Interpol to arrest the absconding suspects, including the top Chechen leader, said Lieutenant General Dahi in a press conference.

Yamadayev's killing is believed to be the first politically motivated slaying in Dubai and the latest in a series of assassinations targeting Chechen renegades in and outside Russia, including the unsolved assassination of Yamadayev's brother Ruslan, last September.

"The Chechen, Adam Delimkhanov, is the man behind the operation. The crime is of Chechen making," he said.

According to media reports, Delimkhanov has shown himself to be a loyal and a close friend of Kadyrov.

"He has already proven himself willing to do Kadyrov's bidding; be it eliminating
one of the president's rivals on a busy Moscow thoroughfare or hectoring
an unsuspecting soccer referee. No task is too daunting, or too menial, for Delimkhanov," says a media report.

According to some reports, Kadyrov has designated Delimkhanov as his chosen successor in the event of his death.

Based on Dubai police's investigation into the crime, "it is evident that the organised assassination is a Chechen dirty score settling operation and a cycle of conflict from Chechnya that is being imported and settled in other countries. It's a completely cheap and dirty operation in every sense of the word," said Lieutenant-General Dahi.

"There is no escape or protection for people masterminding and involved in such crimes. We have enlisted Adam Delimkhanov, vice-prime minister, among the wanted. It is completely unacceptable for us to see political leaders using our country to settle internal conflicts. We will stand firm to anyone considering to jeopardise the safety and security of our country," Dahi said.

Dubai police in coordination with the General Department of State Security found the items used during the assassination in different locations in Dubai, including the weapon, a golden gun believed to belong to Delimkhanov himself.

The two suspects, both residents of the UAE, are in Dubai police custody. The prime suspect is the Iranian.

One of the detainees described the details of the operation and the involvement of the deputy prime minister of Chechnya, he said.

As for the person involved in shooting Yamadayev, he has managed to escape to Russia, said Lieutenant-General Dahi.

"We would like to emphasize that the state of Iran has nothing to do with the assassination. Further, certain media reports stated that Arabs and Salafis are involved in the operation; this is completely incorrect," he said.