British police visit Israel to probe passport fraud

JERUSALEM/LONDON - British police arrived in Israel Saturday to interview Israelis with double passports whose identities were allegedly used by the assassins of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month, Israeli media reported.

Members of the British Serious Organised Crime Agency arrived in Israel to question the six Israeli-British citizens whose passports were allegedly faked together with Irish, French, German and Australian in order to travel to United Arab Emirates.

Dubai police accused Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad of using forged passports to travel to Dubai and kill Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, found dead in his hotel room Jan 20.

Dubai Police Chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim said Friday that there were DNA evidence of one of the criminals and called Saturday to Mossad to confess their involvement or issue a clear denial of the accusations against the Israeli agency.

In a message to Mossad Chief Meir Dagan, Khalfan Tamim urged him to “own up to his crime or unequivocally deny his organisation’s involvement,” United Arab Emirates media reported.

Dubai police has called all Arab countries to carefully check any Jewish citizen with double passport in order to “prevent Mossad’s infiltrations,” newspaper Emarat Al Youm reported Saturday.