Dubai asks FBI to investigate terror ties to US

Amid ongoing investigation of the terrorist murder of a Hamas commander in Dubai, the UAE police have asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to look into alleged ties of the suspects to Americans.

Dubai police asked the FBI to investigate US-issued pre-paid credit cards used by 13 of the terror suspects in the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Dubai daily The National reported Tuesday.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has identified 27 suspects, mostly European passport holders, who entered the country in order to carry out the terrorist murder of al-Mabhouh in his hotel room on January 19.

“Thirteen of the 27 suspects used pre-paid MasterCards issued by MetaBank, a regional American bank, to purchase plane tickets and book hotel rooms,” the daily quoted police as saying.

According to the Police, the credit cards bore the same names as the fake passports used by the suspects to enter Dubai.

Based on a report published by The Wall Street Journal, two of the suspects traveled to the United States shortly after the murder.

According to the report, one of the suspects entered the US on February 14 using a British passport. Another suspect, using an Irish passport, entered the country on January 21, a day after Mabhouh was found dead in his hotel room.

The US State Department and the Interpol have both declined to comment on the report.

Speaking on the sidelines of the International Security National Resilience conference in Abu Dhabi, Dubai police Chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim did not confirm whether the US was participating in the investigation.

Observers consider the Dubai request from the FBI as merely a formality that has little chance to be followed by any action, since US is the prime sponsor of the Israeli regime and has openly backed its previous terror operations as ‘national security measures.’