Canada has detained a suspect involved in the assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Dubai at the outset of this year, said the emirate's police chief on Tuesday, slamming Ottawa's lack of transparency on the matter. Canada actually informed UAE officials of the arrest in June, but requested that they not announce it, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television.
"I am astonished. Why this attempt to cover up on this issue? We must act transparent, reliably and quickly in such cases," he said. Speaking to the local Al-Ittihad newspaper, Khalfan did not say why Canada had called for secrecy. According to him, he went public after the news was reported in the Canadian media.
Khalfan received the information from the Canadian ambassador, Al-Ittihad said. The suspect arrested "was among the preparatory group which arrived in the country and left it before the crime" was committed, Khalfan was quoted as saying in Al-Ittihad.
The daily said the suspect was among a number of people for which international red notices had been issued by Interpol on behalf of the UAE.
