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thetimes.co.ukThe Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia sent
a hit squad to Canada to locate and
murder an exiled former spy chief, a US
lawsuit has alleged.
Mohammed bin Salman, known as
MBS, is being sued by Saad al-Jabri, 61,
for damages related to to an “attempted
extrajudicial killing” only two weeks
after the journalist Jamal Khashoggi
was dismembered in the Saudi consu-
late in Istanbul in 2018.
The civil suit, first reported by The
Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail,
alleges that the group, armed with “two
bags of forensic tools”, tried to enter Ca-
nada on tourist visas but were prevent-
ed by border agents at Toronto airport.
Among them was “an instructor in
the exact same criminal evidence de-
partment as the forensic specialist who
dismembered Mr Khashoggi with a
bone saw”, the lawsuit, filed in a district
court in Washington, claims.
The prince, 34, is using Mr Jabri’s
children as “human bait” to bring him
out of hiding, it alleges. In March, 50
state security officers allegedly stormed
his home in Riyadh, abducting two of
his children, Omar, 21, and Sarah, 20.
Mr Jabri, a 39-year veteran of the
Saudi government, fled to Turkey in
2017 and then secretly to Toronto. He is
said to have close ties to the US
intelligence community after being a
key contact point for anti-terrorist co-
operation with the West. Last month
four US senators wrote to President
Trump raising concerns about the
“enforced disappearance” of Mr Jabri’s
children and describing the dissident as
a “close ally and friend”.
“That combination of deep know-
ledge and enduring trust by top US
officials is why there is virtually no one
[the] defendant [MBS] wants dead more
than Dr Saad,” the lawsuit claims.
Mr Jabri, a dual Saudi and Maltese
citizen, was a close ally of the former
crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef,
whom MBS ousted in June 2017,
establishing himself as the oil-rich
kingdom’s de facto ruler.
MBS then allegedly tried to pressure
Mr Jabri to return to Saudi Arabia, tell-
ing him: “We shall certainly reach you.”
The New York Times reported that the
prince tried to have Mr Jabri arrested
for corruption by Interpol but that the
agency refused after sensing that the re-
quest was politically motivated.
The lawsuit claims that the FBI
warned Mr Jabri’s son in early 2018
about a possible threat to the family.
Months later, in October, it alleges, after
MBS had tracked the former
intelligence official to Canada, the hit
squad arrived at Toronto airport and
attempted to avoid detection by enter-
ing through separate kiosks.
When border agents grew suspicious,
the group claimed not to know each
other but officials found a photograph
of them together. All but one, bearing a
diplomatic passport, were refused entry.
Saudi officials did not comment on
the allegations. Bill Blair, Canada’s min-
ister for public safety, said: “Canada will
never tolerate foreign actors threaten-
ing Canada’s national security.”sleeves rolled up, viewed the wrecked port as Beirut families prepared to bury their dead, children received medical care and people surveyed the rubble of their homesthey call for revolution
with deadly cargo was on its way to explosives factory
potentially volatile substance was not
dealt with after it was unloaded from
the Rhosus cargo ship in 2013.
Four sailors were stuck on board the
Moldova-flagged vessel for almost a
year after it was impounded in Beirut
en route from Georgia, the former
Soviet state, to Mozambique.
Boris Prokoshev, its captain, told a
reporter at the time: “The ship owner
has abandoned the ship... The ammo-
nium nitrate in the hold is an explosive
material. We’ve been hung out to dry.
For ten months we’ve been living with-
out pay on a powder keg.”
On Wednesday Mr Prokoshev, 70,
showed reporters the cargo contract
and said that the Russian in charge ofThe ammonium nitrate was unloaded
and stored in hangar 12 of the port.
Mr Prokoshev said he was angry that
the crew had been left with little food
and no pay during their time stuck on
the vessel. “I wrote to Putin every
month saying we were in worse straits
than prisoners,” he said.
The Lebanese authorities were at
fault for yesterday’s blast, he added.
“They have themselves to blame,” he
told Radio Free Europe. “There was no
reason to impound that ship. They
should have got rid of it as soon as poss-
ible. When they were asked to release it,
they should have said, ‘Go, we don’t
need anything from you.’ ”
Alternatively, the authorities couldhave put the cargo to use, he said. “It’s
ammonium nitrate, fertiliser. They
could have taken it out to the fields and
ploughed it in. If nobody wants a cargo,
it’s up for grabs.
“Instead, they started demanding
that the money was returned to them
for the port fee — and look what
happened.”
Mr Grechushkin, who is said to live in
Cyprus, has not commented.
The Rhosus eventually sank because
there was no one to pump out the water
that was seeping through a hole in its
side. Crew members had earlier com-
plained on sailors’ forums that the ship
was in poor condition, with one de-
scribing it as “knackered”.the Rhosus, Igor Grechushkin, had
insisted that it call at Beirut to pick up
some heavy machinery.
However, the weight of the addition-
al cargo damaged hatches on the deck
and the captain refused to have it on
board. The ship was then seized for
non-payment of docking fees.
It was not until 2014, after months of
wrangling, that the remaining crew
members — one Russian and three
Ukrainians — were allowed to go
home. Baroudi & Associates, a Beirut
law firm, has said that it managed to get
a judge’s permission by emphasising
“the imminent danger the crew was
facing given the dangerous nature of
the cargo still stored in the ship’s holds”.MBS ‘sent
hit squad to
kill former
spy chief ’
DALATI AND NOHRA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; MOHAMMAD ZAATARI/AP; WAEL HAMZEH/EPA; JOSEPH EID/AFP/GETTY IMAGESSaudi Arabia
Charlie Mitchell Ottawa