A RETIRED Dublin businessman, now living in Israel, has spoken of his shock that a property he once owned in Ballsbridge was given as a home address by one of 26 suspects in the assassination of a senior Hamas figure in Dubai last month.
Gershon Copperman (83) owned 6 Elgin Road from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s. He never lived there. The current owner is a brother of former taoiseach Albert Reynolds. The property, which is located close to the Israeli embassy, has been vacant for about 10 years.
Mr Copperman, who was born in Dublin and ran a travel agency on Harcourt Street before emigrating to Israel in 1978 with his two children, was unaware of reports that a suspect using a fake Irish passport and the name Kevin Daveron gave 6 Elgin Road as his address when checking into a Dubai hotel the day before Mahmoud Al Mabhouh was killed.
"This has taken me by complete surprise," Mr Copperman told The Irish Timesfrom his home in the Israeli town of Petah Tikva.
“It is a real shock. I have no idea how this could have happened. It is very, very strange.”
Dubai authorities yesterday released details of 15 more people they believe were involved in the assassination.
The emirate’s police chief has said he is “99 per cent” certain it was orchestrated by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Three of the suspects named yesterday were carrying fake Irish documentation with passport numbers and expiry dates that match legitimate Irish passports. Their names were given as Ivy Brinton, Anna Shauna Clasby and Chester Halvey.
The total number of suspects using fraudulent passports now stands at 12 British, six Irish, four French, three Australian and one German.
“The new list of suspects includes people who offered prior logistical support and preparations to facilitate the crime, and others who played a central role,” police said. Fourteen suspects used credit cards issued by the same US bank to book flights and hotel rooms.
The Irish passports implicated were all issued before the Department of Foreign Affairs introduced improved passport security measures in 2005. All six Irish citizens whose passport numbers and expiry dates were used by the suspects have been offered new passports and their previous documentation has been withdrawn.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin noted that the investigation was continuing and said he would not rule out the possibility of further developments.
“Ireland utterly condemns this wholesale use of fake documents which inevitably casts a shadow over authentic documentation,” he said.
“The Irish Government regards the safety and security of our citizens travelling abroad as of paramount importance. We take grave exception to any acts which place our citizens in danger through identity theft.”