The Mossad fixer who masterminded the assassination of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh is a Day of the Jackal figure who stole a dead man's identity nearly 20 years ago and vanished into thin air within hours of the killing, investigators have found.
The murder of the Hamas official in a Dubai hotel room two years ago today sparked an international outcry when it was revealed that the hit squad had used passports cloned from the identities of people in Britain, Ireland, Australia and France.
One of the British passports turned out to be genuine, issued to Christopher Lockwood, a bespectacled, middle-aged man captured on CCTV cameras in Dubai. In 1994 Lockwood had changed his name from Yehuda Lustig - a real Israeli who died in the 1973 October War.
"He was a real Day of the Jackal figure," a security official said. "He was never seen again. To all intents and purposes, he has vanished."
Police identified the hit squad in footage from CCTV security cameras - which have increased in number from 25,000 then to 100,000 now.
"The case highlighted the importance of having surveillance cameras in hotel corridors, so we added an article to our local law to make it compulsory for hotel managements," said Lt Col Khalifa Al Saleis, the head of protective systems at Dubai Police.
One person was arrested over the murder. Uri Brodsky, an Israeli citizen, was released on bail in Germany in August 2010, and flew to Israel.
Though the assassination was an obvious success, experts say that surveilance technology has won, and investigators now have more tools and enhanced intelligence sharing to draw connections with suspects.
In Gaza, the murdered man's family are angry at the lack of progress, and at Hamas's refusal to share the results of an internal investigation.
"The guys who killed my brother are probably in some other Arab country trying to do the same thing to someone else," said Hussein Mabhouh.
Anger towards Israel has since cooled. For Britain, who the hit squad had cloned a number of British passports, the present concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions has taken the heat off the assassins.
"The UK was genuinely furious over the use of the passports and it was clear from the investigation by Soca [Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency] that Mossad was behind it," a senior British diplomat said.
"But the brutal truth is that we are living in times that are far more dangerous than those posed by a few cloned passports. The gesture of expelling the Mossad station chief from the Israeli Embassy in London signified the UK's annoyance. Since then, we have had to get on with more important business where both nations have mutual interests." - Read article
newsdesk@thenational.ae
The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
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Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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