Dubai, Asharq Al-Awsat – A UAE official denied reports claiming that the UAE intelligence services foiled attempts to bomb Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building.
Dubai Police Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told Asharq Al-Awsat Tuesday that “these claims are unfounded and completely false.” He stressed that the news “is completely fabricated.”
Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim highlighted that there no were such plots to bomb the world’s tallest building, which is still under construction, and said, “If anything like this took place then I would have informed you.”
Israel’s Maariv newspaper reported that it had received information from Western sources recently that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards plotted to blow up Burj Dubai and that eight people, including Syrians and Palestinians, had been brought in for questioning two months ago.
A source from the Iranian embassy in Abu Dhabi denied having any knowledge on this issue, stressing that there was no information in this regard “because there is essentially nothing [to report],” the source told Asharq Al-Awsat by phone, Tuesday.
According to official figures, there are less than 111,000 Iranians living in the UAE. The former Iranian ambassador to the UAE, Hamid Reza Asefi, however, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the number of Iranians living in the UAE is over 400,000.
Maariv newspaper claimed that members of the network were in possession of tons of explosives, ready-to-use explosive belts and large amounts of automatic weapons that had been sent from Iran by plane. The newspaper added that it had information indicating that members of the network were also planning to target “a military base in the UAE.”
The Israeli newspaper also indicated that the UAE intelligence services were focusing their investigations on the involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in these terrorist plots; however they are also investigating the possibility of Al Qaeda and other extremist groups being behind the plots. It also claimed that the UAE government is treating the matter as completely confidential.