Saudi crown prince sent hit squad to Canada to kill former spy, lawsuit claims

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia sent a hit squad to Canada in an effort to hunt down and kill a former top intelligenceofficial who knows too much, a civil lawsuit filed Thursdayin the United States asserts.

The 106-page unproven complaint, which reads like a spy thriller,accuses Mohammed bin Salman of orchestrating attempts to silence Saad Aljabri, a permanent resident of Canada.

The document describes Aljabri as a 39-year veteran of the government of Saudi Arabia with expertise in national security and counterterrorism.

As such, it says, few people know more about bin Salman than he does, including his allegedly corrupt business dealings and creation of a team of personal mercenaries called the Tiger Squad.

Those mercenaries, the suit states, were behind the killing anddismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.

Mercenaries behind killing of Khashoggi, suit claims

In addition, Aljabri says he had a close working relationship with American intelligence over the decades. He is, he claims, uniquely positioned to threaten bin Salman's standing in Washington.

"Few places hold more sensitive, humiliating and damninginformation about defendant bin Salman than the mind and memory of Dr. Saad except perhaps the recordings Dr. Saad made in anticipation of his killing," the claim asserts.

"That is why defendant bin Salman wants him dead, and why defendant bin Salman has worked to achieve that objective over the last three years."

None of the allegations in Aljabri's claim for damages in UnitedStates District Court for the District of Columbia havebeen tested.

Officials with the Saudi Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to arequest for comment.

Canada aware of incidents

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair would not comment on thespecific allegations in the lawsuit but said the government was aware of incidents in which foreign actors have tried to monitor, intimidate or threaten Canadians and people in Canada.

"It is completely unacceptable, and we will never tolerateforeign actors threatening Canada's national security or the safety of our citizens and residents," Blair said in a statement. "We invite people to report any such threats to law enforcement authorities."

WATCH | Saudi hit squad sent to Canada to kill former intelligence official, lawsuit alleges:

Saudi hit squad sent to Canada to kill former intelligence official, lawsuit alleges

4 years ago

Duration 1:59

A new lawsuit alleges that a Saudi hit squad was sent to Canada at the behest of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to kill a former intelligence official shortly after a similar hit squad killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Blair repeated Canada's condemnation of Khashoggi's murder andits support for a proper international investigation, saying that's why Ottawa imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi nationalslinked to the killing.

Aljabri, a dual citizen of Malta and Saudi Arabia, fled thekingdom in 2017, first to Turkey and then secretly to Toronto, where he now lives.

Bin Salman repeatedly ordered Aljabrito return home andthreatened via instant messaging to "use all available means" andto "take measures that would be harmful to you," the complaintstates.

'We shall certainly reach you'

"We shall certainly reach you," bin Salman allegedly insisted.

According to the suit, which also names several top Saudi officials, Tiger Squad members arrived at Toronto Pearson Airport on tourist visas in mid-October 2018, less than two weeks after Khashoggi was murdered.

"Bin Salman in fact dispatched a hit squad to North America tokill Dr. Saad," the claim asserts.

To cover themselves, they entered through separate kiosks but aroused suspicion after claiming they did not know each other, the suit states.

Agents with the Canada Border Services Agency deniedall but one of them entry, a squad member travelling on a diplomaticpassport, the claimsays.

In the lawsuit, Aljabri claims a former colleague, Bijad Alharbi, showed up athis Toronto telecommunications company office posing as an investor and tried to persuade him to go to Turkey to visit family.

Although Aljabrirefused, Alharbi had succeeded in pinpointing hislocation so the Tiger Squad could find him, the suit states.

"Bin Salman now plans to send agents directly through the UnitedStates to enter Canada by land and, once and for all, eliminate Dr. Saad,"the suitsays.

As a pressure tactic, the claim asserts bin Salman has orderedthe detention and kidnapping of Aljabri's family members. noting two of his children "disappeared" in mid-March and other relatives have been arrested, detained and tortured. The suit also says Saudi agents hacked Aljabri'ssmartphones and froze his bank accounts.

Bin Salman took power in Saudi Arabia in 2017, after then-crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef was ousted.Human rights groups accuse him of bloody ruthlessness, including the killing of Khashoggi, whose body has never been found.

The lawsuit also names Bader Alasaker, the head of bin Salman's private office. It accuses him of recruiting, training and bribing U.S.-based employees of Twitter to obtain confidential information about critics of bin Salman in the U.S.

Aljabri's American lawyers would not discuss the case, saying they would make arguments in court.