Turkey Helps UAE Arrest Suspects in Israeli Rabbi’s Murder

Turkey Assists UAE in Arresting Suspects in Israeli Rabbi’s Murder

DUBAI/ANKARA – The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that Turkish authorities had helped arrest suspects accused of killing an Israeli rabbi in the United Arab Emirates.

In a statement carried by the state news agency, the ministry thanked Turkish authorities for their “cooperation in arresting the perpetrators,” without providing further details.

Emirati authorities said they had arrested three Uzbek men suspected of killing Zvi Kogan, a 28-year-old rabbi of Moldovan origin who was living in the UAE.

The three suspects were caught in a covert operation in Istanbul over the weekend by Turkish intelligence and police at the request of the UAE government, a Turkish security source said.

Turkish intelligence found out which flight the suspects arrived in Istanbul on, and Turkish police apprehended them after they left the airport.

The source also said Turkey had extradited the suspects to the United Arab Emirates.

The circumstances surrounding Kogan’s death have not been disclosed and it is unclear whether Emirati authorities had established a motive or where the three suspects were when they were arrested.

Israeli authorities have said Kogan was targeted because he was Jewish, and have described his killing as an anti-Semitic attack. Israeli agencies are assisting with the investigation.

Kogan had lived in the UAE for several years and was involved in communicating with the country’s Jewish community. He was reported missing on Thursday and his body was found on Sunday.

Uzbek officials said the Tashkent government was assisting Emirati and Israeli authorities with the investigation.

Two of the detained suspects are 28 years old and the third is 33 years old. Pictures released by the UAE’s Interior Ministry show all three suspects blindfolded and restrained.