Dubai: A spy novel-worthy police narrative about the slaying of a Hamas commander has brought uneasy questions for Dubai authorities as their account of a crack hit squad from Europe ran into serious challenges from Britain, Ireland and Germany.
At least four people who live in Israel share names with suspects identified by Dubai police investigating the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Three of the four said they were not the people whose photos were made public by Dubai; a daughter of the fourth said the allegations were a mistake.
Even so, the purported link to Israel was likely to encourage Hamas and others to press their claims that the Mossad secret service masterminded the slaying.
Another twist added to the intrigue. Officials outside Dubai said at least two Palestinians linked to the case were in Dubai custody, leaving Hamas and its Western-backed Palestinian rivals trading bitter accusations.
Dubai authorities described an 11-member team that swooped into the Gulf city-state last month on a mission to kill al-Mabhouh and then fanned out with clockwork precision to Europe, Asia and South Africa in less than 24 hours.
Dubai`s police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, ran through the details at a news conference Monday, describing suspects who donned fake beards or wigs and shadowed al-Mabhouh so closely they even rode in the same elevator with him at a luxury hotel.
The wanted list was topped by an alleged mastermind carrying a French passport and others traveling on European passports: six British, three Irish and a German.
But it quickly came under dispute.
Ireland said three suspects` names do not appear on any passport registry. Britain and Germany said the passport details cited by Dubai do not appear genuine. The consul-general of France in Dubai, Nada Yafi, declined to comment on the case.
One of the British suspects — identified as Melvyn Adam Mildiner — told The Associated Press the passport photo on the Dubai wanted flier is not him but the passport number was correct.
"Wow, I didn`t know that (the number) was out. That`s horrid," said Mildiner, who has dual British-Israeli citizenship and was reached by phone in Israel.
"That is a bit bizarre," he said, adding: "I have never been to Dubai."
At least three other people with the same names as the alleged suspects — identified by Dubai police as Britons Paul John Keeley and Stephen Daniel Hodes, and German passport holder Michael Bodenheimer — live in Israel, according to Israel`s Channel 2 TV.
Keeley and Hodes denied any link to the slaying. Channel 2 reached Bodenheimer`s daughter, who called the Dubai allegations a "mistake."
"I have never been to Dubai. I don`t know what is happening. I am simply afraid," Hodes told Channel 2.
Both Hodes and Keeley said the passport photos distributed by Dubai police were not theirs. "I am in shock," Keeley said.
Hamas has repeatedly accused Israel`s Mossad secret service of masterminding the slaying and has vowed revenge.
PTI
