Posted on 02/24/2010 5:06:35 PM PST by BlackVeil
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says three Australians whose passports were allegedly used by suspected Mossad assassins in Dubai appear to have been the victims of identity fraud.
Dubai police have named 15 new suspects in the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in his hotel room last month in what police say was almost certainly an Israeli hit.
Police say three of the suspects travelled to the emirate on Australian passports in the names of Adam Marcus Korman, Joshua Daniel Bruce and Nicole Sandra McCabe.
Speaking after meeting the Israeli ambassador in Canberra today, Mr Smith said the Australian Federal Police would conduct a full investigation into how the passports had been copied or altered.
"At this stage Australian officials have no information to suggest the three Australian passport holders were involved in any way other than as victims of passport or identity fraud," Mr Smith said.
"The Australian Government condemns in the strongest possible terms the misuse and the abuse of Australian passports."
Mr Smith said he also told ambassador Yuval Rotem that the Australian Government expected Israeli officials to cooperate "fully and transparently" with the AFP's investigation.
Earlier Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was determined to "get to the bottom" of the case.
He told AM that officials had been working on the case through the night and pledged the Government would "not let the matter rest" and that Australia "will not be silent on the matter".
"If Australian passports are being used or forged by any state, let alone for the purpose of assassination, this is of the deepest concern and we are getting to the bottom of this now," he said.
"We will not leave a single stone unturned."
Asked what action the Government may take against Israel, Mr Rudd replied: "Let us establish the facts first."
The three Australians named will be contacted by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
"This is not just a deep concern for the Australian Government, it must be therefore the deepest concern to any individual associated with this as well," Mr Rudd said.
'Simply unbelievable'
Mr Korman, 34, is Australian-born but lives in Tel Aviv where he sells musical instruments.
In an interview with Israeli media he has denied any involvement and says he is the victim of identity theft.
AM tried to contact him, along with a Bruce Daniel who lives near Haifa in Israel's north, but neither was answering the phone.
But Mr Korman has told Israel's biggest newspaper Yediot Aharonot that he is shocked over what has happened.
"It's identity theft. Simply unbelievable," he is quoted as saying.
"It's a violation of human rights to do such a thing. I have travelled all over the world but never visited Dubai or the United Arab Emirates."
Mr Korman also told the paper he was perplexed as to how he could fly to Australia again now that he is considered an international suspect.
"I have been frightened and shocked since receiving the news," he reportedly said.
AM has confirmed that Australian Nicole Sandra McCabe also lives in Israel.
When contacted this morning, her family in Australia said they had no knowledge of her name being linked to the Dubai investigation.
Dubai police have released new information about the movements of the 26 suspects before and after the assassination.
All had apparently travelled to Dubai from one of six European cities or Hong Kong, and each left the country to various destinations, including Hong Kong and Iran, before returning to Europe where they apparently abandoned the fraudulent passports.
Many had also used credit cards issued by the same US bank.
Police also released new vision from the hotel's security cameras showing the man named as Mr Bruce with one of the French suspects inside the hotel.
The Israeli foreign minister has said there is no proof his country carried out the killing.
Nice work, Mossad; keep up the good work!
WTF is wrong with all this? Why is even one iota of work being done to track down the heroes who killed a terrorist? Whoever was involved here deserves medals if anything.
I’m glad you Aussies volunteered your passports too. Better the Jews than the Muslims which you still have not figured out. You sit on your ass in Brisbane while the Jews duke it out with these idiots
If I had the skills, I'd add Waldo and Looterman's pictures as suspects.
In other words they are parasites of the worst kind. They can't develop technology, but can buy it. Then find that the society that allowed the freedom to develop this technology is somehow "better" than theirs. So it must mean that they must be destroyed. As if the destruction of somebody else will elevate them.
The classic example was the Israelis leaving an high tech plant for the Palestinians and when they took over they pulled everything apart and sold the wire and other equipment for junk.
Evil little people have no chance against the Israelis. The nanosecond the Iranians develop a nuke, they will have a massive industrial accident, none of their electronic components will work or just disappear into a flaming orange ball of fire.
If every muzzie in the world disappeared this second would our world be better or worse?
The Israelis are just defending themselves and I really feel sorry for anybody that poses a serious threat to them. They are at the short end of their life timeline.
>>>”Police say three of the suspects travelled to the emirate on Australian passports in the names of Adam Marcus Korman, Joshua Daniel Bruce and Nicole Sandra McCabe.”
All three Australian passport holders live in Israel.
Why would Mossad use the identity of those who live in Israel, therefore, easily allowing others to point the finger at Mossad ?
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``Preliminary analysis by the Australian Federal Police together with the Australian Passport Office shows that the three Australian passports appear to have been duplicated or altered,’’ Mr Smith said.
“Mr Smith said the passports were all issued in 2003, and since then there had been major improvements in passport security.”
``The Australian government condemns in the strongest possible terms the misuse and the abuse of Australian passports,’’ he said.”
“[Australian] Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop argued the Prime Minister’s plan to apply strict new visa tests to applicants from 10 countries would be ineffective if terrorists and criminals used forged passports.”
“Ms Bishop said forged passports would in effect ``bypass’’ the new security arrangements.”
``The assassination squad appears to have used forged passports from countries that do not need visas to travel to Dubai,’’ Ms Bishop said. ``(This) allowed them to bypass eye scans and other biometric tests.
``This raises concerns about the Rudd government’s counter-terrorism white paper which will target travellers from 10 countries with biometric scans’’.
``It must be assumed that if assassination squads can exploit loopholes to avoid these security measures, terrorists could also exploit the same loopholes’’.
If my passport could help kill terrorists, I might be inclined to willingly give it up. No identity fraud necessary...
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