Dubai Names 15 More Suspects in Hamas Leader's Death

By MARIA ABI-HABIB And CHIP CUMMINS

DUBAI—Dubai police on Wednesday identified 15 new suspects in their probe of the January death of a senior Hamas leader here, bringing to 26 the number of people they have identified as connected to the alleged murder.

Dubai officials released photos and passport details of additional suspects holding British, Irish, French and Australian passports. Last week, Dubai identified 11 holders of European passports as suspects in the case. Those suspects all surfaced quickly, denying any involvement. Governments in Britain, Ireland, France and Germany all said they suspected the passports were issued fraudulently.

A spokeswoman for the U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said six additional passports appear to have been faked in the same way as the previous six.

"The photographs and signatures do not match the genuine passport details held on the FCO systems," she said. Ireland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was trying to contact the holders of the passports concerned.

The release of the passport details last week triggered a diplomatic uproar in Europe, with the U.K. promising a full investigation into how its passports were able to be used fraudulently. Dubai police have said they have evidence implicating Israel's intelligence service in the alleged murder, but haven't revealed any details.

Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied involvement, their longstanding policy. Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said last week there was no evidence linking Israel to the case.


European Pressphoto Agency
The father of assassinated senior Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh posed with a photograph of his son outside his family's house in Jabalya.

More on Dubai

Dubai Police Statement
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Still, suspicion has broadly fallen on Mossad, the Jewish state's intelligence agency, ever since the body of a top Hamas leader, Mahmoud al Mabhouh, was found in a Dubai hotel room on Jan. 20. Last week, several European governments called in their Israeli ambassadors to discuss the matter. European government officials have called on Israeli counterparts to disclose any information Israel might have about the case.

In a statement and multimedia presentation on Wednesday, Dubai's government released a flood of new information about the alleged movements of the 26 suspects, including flight itineraries, hotel details and credit card information. The information suggests the suspects had flown in and out of Dubai several times, months before the alleged murder.

Dubai police also said Wednesday they had identified credit cards used by 14 of the suspects. They named the issuing bank as Metabank, a unit of financial company Meta Financial Group Inc., based in Storm Lake, Iowa. A call to Meta wasn't immediately returned. The release by Dubai was made several hours before working hours at the company.

Dubai police also identified a company called Payoneer Inc., based in New York, though it wasn't clear what role authorities believe that company played. According to its Web site, Payoneer offers online payment solutions, including arranging for employers to pay overseas workers through money transfers into prepaid MasterCard debit-card accounts.

A representative at Payoneer, reached early Wednesday morning before business hours, said she wasn't immediately able to comment on the Dubai release.

Payoneer is based in New York, but has offices in Tel Aviv, raising new questions about possible Israeli involvement. The company is privately held, according to a news release issued earlier this week. Its chief executive, Yuval Tal, was on a plane and unreachable, a company spokesman said.

—Alistair MacDonald in London contributed to this article.
Write to Chip Cummins at chip.cummins@wsj.com