Authorities arrest suspected Mossad agent wanted in Hamas murder

AFP - Polish authorities have arrested at the request of Germany a suspected Mossad agent thought to have played a role in the Dubai assassination of a Hamas commander, German prosecutors said Saturday.
   
"He was arrested in Warsaw and is suspected of being involved in illegally obtaining a (German) passport," a spokesman for German federal prosecution said, confirming a report in German magazine Der Spiegel.
   
"It's now up to the Poles to decide if they are going to hand him over to Germany."
   
According to an article to be published Monday in Der Spiegel, the suspect identified as Uri Brodsky was arrested early June on arrival at Warsaw's airport on suspicions that he helped a member of the hit squad get a German passport in June 2009.
   
Mahmud al-Mabhuh, a founder of the military wing of the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza, was found dead in his room in the Al Bustan Rotana hotel near Dubai airport on January 20.
   
Dubai police have released extensive surveillance camera footage they say shows the team of suspects from the hit squad they have linked to the Mossad. The Hamas man had been drugged and then suffocated.
   
Twelve British, six Irish, four French, one German and three Australian passports were used by 26 people believed linked to the murder, according to Dubai police.
   
In many cases, the documents appeared either to have been faked or obtained illegally.
   
The issue caused a diplomatic row in which the five countries whose passports were used called in Israeli envoys for talks.

Selected surveillance footage from the Al Bustan Rotana hotel The suspects Dubai police believe these are the 11 suspects in Mahmud al-Mabhuh’s murder. Six of the alleged killers held passports from Britain, three from Ireland, one from France and one from Germany. Interpol issued arrest warrants for the 10 men and one woman on Feb. 18. The victim Mahmud al-Mabhuh helped found Hamas’ military wing and has admitted involvement in the 1989 kidnapping and murder of two Israeli soldiers. Israel suspects him of smuggling Iranian arms into Gaza and of being a key link between Hamas, Hezbollah in south Lebanon and Iran. Checking in At 3:25 pm on Jan. 19, Hamas military commander Mahmud al-Mabhuh (circled, dressed in white) arrives at the front desk of the Al Bustan Rotana hotel to check in. Dubai police believe that two of the other men in this frame are trailing the victim. Room 230 As Mabhuh is escorted to room number 230, two men in sports clothes and carrying tennis rackets are close behind. Trailing the victim Dubai police believe the two men followed the victim to ascertain his room number. They later booked the room across the hall. Last exit Police say Mabhuh left the hotel for several hours, during which he was tracked by a series of intelligence teams. Police believe he returned to his room at 8:25 pm and was killed shortly afterwards, although his body was not found until the next morning. Leaving the scene Investigators believe this frame shows the suspects leaving the scene of the crime at 8:46 pm. Forensic teams said that Mabhuh had received electric shocks and may have been suffocated. The spy chief Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim has said he is "99 percent, if not 100 percent" certain that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is behind Mabhuh’s murder. He has called for the arrest of Mossad chief Meir Dagan (pictured) if Mossad is implicated. The Frenchman One of the suspects used a French passport in the name of Peter Elvinger. France's Foreign Ministry said it is deeply concerned about the "malicious and fraudulent use" of French travel documents.