British officers to interview passport holders over Hamas killing
British officers to interview passport holders over Hamas killing
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Sunday, 28, Feb 2010 10:26
By Lewis Bazley.
Six British-Israeli nationals whose passports were stolen ahead of the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai are to be interviewed by British police.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) said the men would be interviewed at the British embassy as potential witnesses to a crime, not suspects.
Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabouh was killed in a Dubai hotel last month with Mossad, the Israeli secret service, believed to be behind the murder.
A dozen stolen British passports were used in the alleged murder, and officers will question the remaining six affected passport holders in the near future.
Of the first set of interviews, a Soca spokesman confirmed: "We are arranging to speak to the six genuine passport holders who are resident in Israel as potential witnesses to a crime.
"Those meetings will take place in the British embassy."
The interviews are being held with the full knowledge of the Israeli authorities who had "no issue" with the meetings, the spokesman added.
Mr Mabhouh was found dead on January 20th, with a post-mortem examination revealing he had been electrocuted and then suffocated.