A man using the name of Uri Brodsky is suspected of having supplied a fake German passport to a member of the Mossad assassin squad that was said to responsible for the slaying of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January.
Mossad Agent Uri Brodsky was arrested in Poland
German authorities issued a European-wide arrest warrant and he was picked up by Polish authorities earlier this week, said a spokesperson for the German federal prosecutor's office which is seeking his extradition.
The arrest is the first in European connection with the murder of al-Mabhouh, who was injected with powerful sedatives and then suffocated with a pillow by assassins in the Al Bustan Rotana hotel on January 19.
The team of more than 20 suspected Israeli agents entered the luxury hotel in disguise and used fake European passports, including 12 from Britain, to enter and leave the emirate.
Several of the operatives were caught on CCTV disguised as tennis players but all were able to evade arrest and leave Dubai.
Germany opened an investigation in February after it was revealed a German passport had been among those used in the killing.
Six Irish passports, three Australian and four French, were also involved.
Authorities in the western city of Cologne had issued a passport to a Michael Bodenheimer - the same name used by one of the assassins, according to Dubai police.
Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai's police chief, said at the time he was nearly "100 per cent" confident that Mossad, Israel's spy agency, was responsible for the killing.
Other European governments expressed outrage that forged passports had been used in the attack, with former Foreign Secretary David Miliband condemning the use of British passports as "intolerable".
Israel has refused to confirm or deny the allegations.
A German spokesperson said they had no estimate how soon Mr Brodsky, whose name is thought to be an alias, would be extradited, saying "the matter is now in the hands of the Polish authorities.
"If a person agrees to an extradition, it's a matter of a few days. But here this seems unlikely."
German news weekly Der Spiegel reported that the arrest in Poland has already led to some diplomatic friction.
The Israeli embassy has urged Polish authorities not to extradite Mr Brodsky, the magazine reports, in its issue to be published Monday.
Al-Mabhouh was an arms dealer and a senior Hamas commander who was wanted by Israel for the killing of two Israeli soldiers.
He was also alleged to have help forge links between Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
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