Al Mabhouh was killed in a Dubai hotel room on January 19 following which Dubai police identified 11 suspects.
All suspects in the killing of Hamas leader Mahmud Al-Mabhouh, allegedly linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad, are hiding in Israel to avoid arrest, the Dubai police said today.
"I am sure that all the suspects are in Israel," Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan told a news conference in Abu Dhabi referring to a list of suspects passed on by his department to Interpol.
Khalfan, who identified a 27th suspect in the case, said the accused may not be nabbed as long as they were in Israel but face arrest whenever they leave the country.
"If they stay in Israel, they won't be arrested, but eventually if they leave they will be arrested," he said.
Al Mabhouh was killed in a Dubai hotel room on January 19 following which Dubai police identified 11 suspects.
Weeks later, the police named 15 more Western passport holders as suspects in the assassination bringing the total number of those sought to 26, which include 12 British, six Irish, four French, three Australian and one German passport users.
Khalfan said a 27th suspect, also travelling on a European passport, has been identified in the case.
He appealed to the five countries, whose travel documents were used in the case, to cooperate in the investigation.
"I want the states whose passports were used in the assassination to cooperate with us, and we'll appreciate their cooperation," he said.
In many of the stolen identity cases, the documents appeared either to have been faked or obtained illegally.
Khalfan said the suspects would not have dared used US passports.
"I think Israel was scared of provoking a clash with the US which it considers its best friend," Khalfan told reporters.
Israel itself has sought to play down the row, saying there is no hard proof of its involvement.
Officials in the Jewish state have refused to confirm or deny the reports, although Israeli media sees the killing as the work of Mossad.
The investigators have said they have evidence to implicate Mossad for the killing.
In what is turning out to be an embarrassment to the Israeli government, the Dubai police chief has warned that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be put on an international "wanted list" if it was conclusively proved that the Jewish state's spy agency was behind the murder carried out in Dubai.
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