09/03/2010 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 told AFP. "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.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh 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. Al-Mabhouh 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.
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.
Australian foreign ministry announced Tuesday that there was a fourth Australian-passport holder on the Interpol list. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith confirmed that Joshua Krycer was the fourth Australian whose name has been added to a widened Interpol list connected to the slaying of al-Mabhouh.
Smith said Australian Federal Police and the Australian Passport Office had determined that a fake copy of Krycer's passport was presented in Dubai in connection with al-Mabhouh's killing. Three other Australians were similarly implicated in the case.
"There is no information to suggest that Mr. Krycer, as with any other of the three Australian passport holders, was involved in any way, other than as the victims of identity fraud," Smith said in a statement.
River to Sea
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