Saudi crown prince denies sending ‘Tiger Squad’ to Canada to kill ex-spy chief

Saudi Arabia is rejecting allegations that it sent a group of hit men known as the Tiger Squad to kill an exiled Saudi spy chief who had fled to Canada, the BBC reports.

Former Saudi intelligence officer Saad al-Jabri claims in a US lawsuit that professional assassins tried to kill him in Canada, where he fled three years ago after the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS.

Jabri says the Saudi royals wanted him dead because he knew too much.

The crown prince, the kingdom’s de-facto ruler, said Jabri is trying to conceal his own crimes.

Lawyers for the prince say Jabri’s complaint is “steeped in drama that likens the crown prince to one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains”.

Jabri, 61, was for years the linchpin in all of Saudi Arabia’s relations with the “Five Eyes” (US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) intelligence agencies before MBS rose to power and he fled to Canada.

The lawsuit also claims that Tiger Squad assassins were involved in the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Less than two weeks after the murder of Khashoggi, Jabri says the 50-strong Tiger Squad travelled to Canada to kill him, bringing with them two bags of forensic instruments.

Lawyers representing the prince filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Monday, arguing that the crown prince is immune from the legal action, reports the Middle East Eye today.

The motion stated that Jabri, who now resides in Toronto, had filed the suit in an attempt to divert attention from “massive theft”.