Serious crime squad heads UK inquiry into Dubai killing

[mgt23]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7030603.ece

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has been brought in to investigate the use of British passports in the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Senior Whitehall sources said Soca, set up in 2004, had taken the lead in the investigation to discover how British documents had been involved in the operation believed to have been carried out by Mossad, the Israeli secret service.

One Whitehall official told The Times: "The evidence so far makes very bad reading but until we can get all the facts about exactly what happened, we won't be in a position to decide what action to take. We have to be clear about the facts before we slag people off."

If the evidence incriminated Israel, the official said it would be up to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to summon the Israeli ambassador and demand an explanation.
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James Hider
Opening quote Mossad, and other Israeli intelligence agencies, have a long history of such daring and successful hits Closing quote
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    * Killers had lain in wait for the Hamas leader

    * Britons caught up in the Dubai assassination plot

    * Commentary: Many red herrings in 'Mossad' murder

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    * IN PICTURES: Hamas chief killed

Soca is in touch with the UK Identity and Passport Service to clarify that the passports of six of the alleged assassins were based on genuine British documents. Soca is an intelligence-led agency with law enforcement powers.

Speaking on LBC radio today, Gordon Brown confirmed that he took the misuse of British identity documents very seriously and had ordered a full investigation which was now under way.

"We have got to carry out a full investigation into this. The British passport is an important document that has got to be held with care," said the Prime Minister.

"The evidence has got to be assembled about what has actually happened and how it happened and why it happened, and it is necessary for us to conclude that before we can make statements."

The senior Whitehall sources said: "There is now an active investigation underway and Soca is the lead agency which is in close contact with the Dubai authorities. We have not yet got in touch with the Israelis because all the evidence has to be checked first.

"We're not pointing a finger at anyone at the moment, we're not going to jump the gun until we have the evidence, but obviously it's pretty worrying if British passports have been used."

Suspicion for the murder has fallen on Mossad, the Israeli secret service, which has carried out many such murders of Palestinian leaders abroad. Hamas has blamed Israel directly and Dubai's chief of police said he could not rule out Israeli involvement.

Today Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Foreign Minister, said that the evidence was circumstantial but he did not deny Israeli involvement.

"There is no reason to think that it was the Israeli Mossad and not some other intelligence service or country up to some mischief," Mr Lieberman told Israel Army Radio.

He brushed aside the suggestion that the operation might deepen Israel's diplomatic difficulties with Britain, saying: "I think Britain recognises that Israel is a responsible country and that our security activity is conducted according to very clear, cautious and responsible rules of the game."

Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader who is also a member of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Government should summon the Israeli ambassador to provide an urgent explanation.

"If the Israeli government was party to behaviour of this kind it would be a serious violation of trust between nations," he said.
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James Hider
Opening quote Mossad, and other Israeli intelligence agencies, have a long history of such daring and successful hits Closing quote
James Hider

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    * Killers had lain in wait for the Hamas leader

    * Britons caught up in the Dubai assassination plot

    * Commentary: Many red herrings in 'Mossad' murder

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    * IN PICTURES: Hamas chief killed

"If legitimate British passport holders were put at risk it would be a disgrace.Given the current speculation, the Israeli government has some explaining to do and the ambassador should be summoned to the Foreign Office to do so in double-quick time."

Mike Gapes, the Labour chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said that if the evidence pointed towards Israel misusing British passports then the Israeli ambassador should be called in.

He added that few countries could have carried off the sophisticated assassination plot, suggesting it was either carried out by Israel "or someone trying to make sure it looks like the Israelis".

He said: "Israel has a record of assassinating Hamas leaders. They have a policy of targeted assassinations. It's possible... The British Government, if they are convinced it is Israel, should call the ambassador in."

But a Foreign Office spokeswoman said that no official representation had been made to the Israeli ambassador in London. The Government would decide what to do next only once it had finished investigating the use of British passport identities, the spokeswoman said, but she added that the inquiry was still at a very early stage.

Dubai has widened its search for the killers of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, it emerged today, with officials confirming that at least six of the Hamas commander's assassins remain unaccounted for.

Police in Dubai have issued international arrest warrants for 11 suspects in the case, but now believe the team behind the murder numbered at least 17.

The six unknown killers include a second woman who was part of the final surveillance team in the lobby of al-Mabhouh's Dubai hotel as the murder took place on the evening of January 19. The woman arrived at the hotel at 18.41 dressed as a tourist and wearing a large summer hat. She was accompanied by a large man in a Panama hat and beard.

Another unknown man was part of the core team of seven that carried out the killing in room 230 of the luxury Al Bustan Rotana hotel. Within minutes of the murder taking place, the man is seen leaving the hotel with a woman who was carrying a fake Irish passport in the name of Gail Folliard.

The identities of the 11 named suspects have already been discredited. The identities of six British citizens living in Israel appear to have been stolen.

Officials in the Gulf state say the fake passports were used for travel in Europe and Asia in the months preceding the murder.

Dubai police are also understood to be questioning two Palestinians arrested last week in the Gulf state in relation to the killing. Their identities are unknown but they are believed to have provided logistical support for the murder operation.
Expert View
James Hider
Opening quote Mossad, and other Israeli intelligence agencies, have a long history of such daring and successful hits Closing quote
James Hider

    * More

    * Post a comment

Related Links

    * Killers had lain in wait for the Hamas leader

    * Britons caught up in the Dubai assassination plot

    * Commentary: Many red herrings in 'Mossad' murder

Multimedia

    * IN PICTURES: Hamas chief killed

The suspects are alleged to have had contact with the assassination squad during their 19-hour stay in Dubai. They were extradited back to the emirate from Jordan, where they fled after the killing.

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have launched claim and counter-claim over whose agents they might be and whether al-Mabhouh was betrayed by fellow countrymen.

The long-time Hamas commander made a video two weeks before his death in which he admitted to the kidnap and murder of two Israeli soldiers, Ilan Saadon and Avi Sasportas. The video was broadcast on the al-Jazeera satellite television channel this month.

The Britons whose identities were apparently stolen have reacted with anger, fear and even humour at being caught up in the international murder hunt.

"I've just had a quadruple heart bypass, I'm not exactly spy material," said Michael Lawrence Barney, 54, who was born in Stoke Newington, North London, but emigrated to Israel many years ago.

Melvyn Adam Mildiner, 31, who moved to Israel from Britain nine years ago, told the Jerusalem Post: "I have no idea how to clear my name. Interpol has a warrant out for my arrest. I don't know how I will travel. I went to bed with pneumonia and woke up a murderer."

Paul Keeley, 42, a builder originally from Kent who has lived on a kibbutz for 15 years, said: "It's scary when someone steals your identity. I'm in shock and I don't understand what I am seeing. It doesn't even look like me."

All said that the photographs in the fake passports used by the Dubai killers did not resemble them and, in most cases, key details such as date of birth were also different. Security experts have speculated that their passport details could have been stolen when they were travelling, at a hotel or an immigration desk.

The high-profile use of British passport identities has caused concern in Israel. Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, called in a commentary for Major General Meir Dagan to quit as head of the Mossad over the operation, which it said had abused the "real, living, innocent civilians" whose identities were stolen and had left Israeli open to diplomatic reprisals from abroad.

It cited a previous occasion when eight British passports were found in a phone box in West Germany during a Mossad operation in 1987, prompting British diplomatic outrage.

Yehuda Weinstein, Israel's Attorney-General, has come under pressure to open an inquiry into the theft of the identities.

[memory hole]

My jaw has dropped today; BBC radio 2 has been headlining this story, even presenters of the daily shows discussing MOSSaD TERRORIST assassinations. Am I dreaming.?

This is HUGE. This + defamation on  c4, and Israeli lobby expose on UKTV  , CIA official paraphrased on bbbc2 radio 2, mossad basically hit wihtout any care to any of its British "allies". Seriously, massive shift in the UK media reporting, too many instances now of this to be coincidence. Tectonic shift for my money.

I think Zionism and Jewish political power finally overstepped the mark in the British public eye.

Very interesting developments.

[mgt23]

they've known about mossad all along......MI5 are worried about their own little fiefdom against Milliband, Rothschild and MI6. In any case they know now cuz i went and told em, cant exactly hide the fact that zios hellbent on world domination.....kinda pisses on their own action. I noticed the Telegraph and Times joining the Guardian against Israel. Do note the Binyam case affecting UK-US intel(Mossad), the EU bank secrecy ruling vs US Intel(Mossad). The only reason they would do this is because they know something is coming or a power fight is squaring up.

[MonkeySeeMonkeyDo]

My jaw has dropped today; BBC radio 2 has been headlining this story, even presenters of the daily shows discussing MOSSaD TERRORIST assassinations. Am I dreaming.?

This is HUGE. This + defamation on  c4, and Israeli lobby expose on UKTV  , CIA official paraphrased on bbbc2 radio 2, mossad basically hit wihtout any care to any of its British "allies". Seriously, massive shift in the UK media reporting, too many instances now of this to be coincidence. Tectonic shift for my money.

I think Zionism and Jewish political power finally overstepped the mark in the British public eye.

Very interesting developments.

I heard CNN's Anderson Cooper utter the words "standard Mossad operation" the other day when discussing this.   You know they'll spin this making Mossad the "good guys" who are just taking "preventative measures" against "Hamas terrorists".

[mgt23]

people in this country watch BBC or SKY.... so coming out against zios is a landed gentry thing against the jews(yes some of the gentry dont like joos). What is more interesting is MI5 trying to defend its petty kingdom vs the Rothschilds when even its own leader is Zio. Whilst I remember the Daily Mail came out against MI5 as well. I'm monitoring intently to see who wins or whether it is just window dressing again......

[mgt23]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 521246.stm

The British government has called in the Israeli ambassador to discuss the use of fake UK passports by the alleged killers of a Hamas commander in Dubai.

Gordon Brown has also ordered an inquiry into the passports, which bear the names of six British-Israelis who are not the men pictured.

Dubai police believe 11 "agents with European passports" killed Palestinian militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

The Israelis deny its secret service, Mossad, carried out the assassination.

Israel's foreign minister said there was no evidence to link Mossad but refused to issue any formal denial in line with a "policy of ambiguity" on security matters.

Avigdor Lieberman told Israeli Army Radio: "There is no reason to think that it was the Israeli Mossad and not some other intelligence service or country up to some mischief."

'Full investigation'

It is expected that the Israeli Ambassador, Ron Prosor, will meet with Sir Peter Ricketts, head of the diplomatic service, on Thursday.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency has been asked to look into the fraudulent use of the passports.

   
I don't know who's behind this. I am just scared, these are major forces
Stephen Daniel Hodes

Pictures of '11 Europeans'
Israel's 'covert killing' history
No proof of Dubai hit - Israel

It has confirmed that photographs and signatures on the passports used in Dubai do not match those on passports issued by the UK.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "We have got to carry out a full investigation into this. The British passport is an important document that has got to be held with care."

The Foreign Office said the British embassy in Tel Aviv was ready to support those affected by the Hamas shooting case.

The men whose names appeared on the passports have dual British and Israeli citizenship.

They are Melvyn Adam Mildiner, Paul John Keeley, James Leonard Clarke, Stephen Daniel Hodes, Michael Lawrence Barney and Jonathan Lewis Graham. They all deny involvement in the killing.

Several of them have spoken of their shock at being implicated in the crime.

Salford-born Mr Hodes, 37, said he had not left Israel for two years and was "in shock".

"I don't know who's behind this. I am just scared, these are major forces," he told Israeli television.