Dubai, February 24: Police on Wednesday widened their search in the hunt for the assassins of a top Hamas official in a luxury hotel, saying 15 new Western passport holders are now suspects, with the total number sought now 26.
The assassination is widely blamed on Israel’s notorious intelligence service Mossad.
A police statement said the 15, including the holders of six British and three French passports, are being sought after Mahmud al-Mabhuh was found dead on January 20 at a luxury Dubai hotel.
All 26 suspects used Western passports, the statement said, adding that five women were among the 15 new names who also include three Irish and three Australian passport holders.
“The new list of suspects includes people who offered prior logistical support and preparations to facilitate the crime, and others who played a central role,” the statement said.
Dubai police said that they were not ruling out that other people were involved in the murder, as they were “still conducting a wide search and reviewing other links to the case.”
Fourteen of the suspects used credit cards, issued by META Bank in the United States, to book hotel rooms and pay for air travel, police said.
The new suspects had travelled to Dubai from six different European cities and Hong Kong.
Police earlier released the names and photos of 11 suspects who had entered the UAE on European passports — six from Britain, three from Ireland, one from Germany and one from France.
The emirate’s police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said last week that some of Mabhuh’s killers used diplomatic passports.
These passports appear to have been falsified or stolen, as they belonged to what appear to be ordinary citizens shocked to learn of their being linked to the case.
“Friendly nations who have been assisting in this investigation have indicated to the police in Dubai that the passports were issued in an illegal and fraudulent manner,” said Wednesday’s statement.
The use of European passports has sparked a diplomatic furore in which Israeli envoys in four countries have already been summoned for talks.
Khalfan has also said he is “99, if not 100 percent” sure that Israeli spy agency Mossad was behind Mabhuh’s death, and added on Saturday that Dubai had evidence, including wiretaps, of the agency’s role.
Britain’s Sunday Times said the killing was carried out by Mossad with the blessing of hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The United Arab Emirates condemned on Sunday the abuse of European passports by the assassins of Mabhuh, a founder of Hamas resistance wing.
“The UAE is deeply concerned by the fact that passports of close allies, whose nationals currently enjoy preferential visa waivers, were illegally used to commit this crime,” said a foreign ministry statement carried by the official WAM news agency.
“The abuse of passports poses a global threat, affecting both countries’ national security as well as the personal security of travellers,” UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said in a statement.
According to Khalfan, two Palestinians have been arrested in Jordan and extradited to Dubai, where they are being held in connection with the murder.
They are believed to be Israeli collaborators.
Hamas has vowed revenge for the alleged Israeli murder.
—Agencies