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| "...Israel is falsifying Western passports on a large scale. We discover forged passports on a daily basis..." Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan said. |
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DUBAI - Dubai's police
chief on Tuesday accused Israel of "vast falsification" of travel
documents, noting that dozens of false passports were uncovered
following a Hamas leader's murder in the emirate.
"I ring alarm bells. Israel
is falsifying Western passports on a large scale. We discover forged
passports on a daily basis," Dahi Khalfan said.
"The world must stop an
operation of vast falsification of official documents (that) a formal
body (Israel's spy agency Mossad) is carrying out," he added.
Mahmud al-Mabhuh, a founder
of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas organisation's military wing, was
found dead in a room of the Al-Bustan Rotana hotel near Dubai's airport
on January 20.
Dubai police have accused the Mossad of being behind the murder.
International police agency
Interpol issued arrest notices Monday for 16 suspects wanted by Dubai
in connection with the killing. It had previously issued notices for 11
suspects.
Alongside the new alerts,
Interpol also announced that it had joined a Dubai-based international
police task force investigating the killing.
Dubai police have
identified 26 out of 27 suspects from the hit squad murder they say
bore the hallmarks of the Mossad. The Hamas man had been drugged and
then suffocated.
Dubai police say the
suspects entered Dubai on fake passports using the identities of 12
people from Britain, six from Ireland, four from France, three
Australians and a German, before fleeing the Gulf emirate.
Australian foreign ministry announced Tuesday that there was a fourth Australian-passport holder on the Interpol list.
Two members of the hit
squad had "returned to the United States after passing through a
European country," said Khalfan last week.
Israeli officials have refused to confirm or deny the reports.
But Israel's media sees the
killing as Mossad's work, and the probe has caused a diplomatic
headache for the Jewish state with the countries whose passports were
used summoning its envoys to hear angry protests.
Middle East Online