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Dubai police chief warns spies out of Gulf region

Arab World Materials 10 March 2010 12:39 (UTC +04:00)
Dubai's police chief has given foreign intelligence services a week to leave the sheikdom and wider Gulf region after the killing of a top Hamas official in January, Dubai-based English daily Gulf News reported Wednesday, Xinhua reported.
Dubai police chief warns spies out of Gulf region

Dubai's police chief has given foreign intelligence services a week to leave the sheikdom and wider Gulf region after the killing of a top Hamas official in January, Dubai-based English daily Gulf News reported Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

"Those spies that are currently present in the Gulf must leave the region within one week -- if not, then we will cross that bridge when we come to it," Dahi Khalfan Tamim was quoted as saying.

Tamim's remarks came following the assassination of Mahmoud al- Mabhouh, a senior commander of Hamas military wing the Ezzedeen al- Qassam Brigades, which Dubai police have blamed on Israel's secret intelligence agency Mossad.

He also accused Israel of "vast falsification" of Western passports, saying "we discover false passports on a daily basis."

The ultimatum indicates that Dubai police are aware of the identities of spies operating in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Gulf region and appears to be a warning of exposure if they do not comply, according to Gulf News.

The newspaper did not specify whether Tamim was referring to all foreign intelligence services, or specifically Mossad, in the report.

Al-Mabhouh, 50, was found dead in his hotel room on Jan. 20, a day after he arrived in Dubai. The Hamas official was wanted by the Israeli government in connection with the kidnappings of two Israeli soldiers in 1989.

Dubai police have said they are virtually certain that Mossad was behind the assassination in a complex operation that involved false Western passports, but Israel has said there was no hard proof that the country carried out the killing.

Dubai has so far named 27 suspects in the murder and issued international arrest warrants for them.

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