© Brendan Smialowski/AFPSaudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
The plaintiff, Dr. Saad Aljabri, who is characterized in the complaint as a "trusted partner of U.S. intelligence officials," claims that the Saudi leader first dispatched a 50-person kill team dubbed the "tiger squad" in October 2018 - just two weeks after the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey - to Ontario, Canada, with an intention to take him out.
"The 'Tiger Squad' that was deployed to Canada included forensic personnel experienced with the clean-up of crime scenes, who carried with them two bags of forensic tools," the suit alleges. "The kill team was thwarted by attentive Canadian border security officials who were suspicious of their behavior at an airport checkpoint."
The complaint goes on to paint a horrific portrait of the "Tiger Squad's" kidnapping and disappearance of Aljabri's two children, attempts by squad operatives to lure Aljabri to locations "where he could be killed — including back to Saudi Arabia and the targeting of Dr. Saad through Interpol with baseless corruption charges."
Following this failed assassination attempt, the lawsuit alleges that the Crown Prince put out a "fatwa" on Aljabri and that he now plans to send agents to enter Canada "by land" directly through the United States to, once and for all, "eliminate him."
Comment: It's a pretty useless tactic. But domestically it gives the impression that the Trump administration is doing something to prevent dastardly and mostly fictional 'Russian interference'. Just look at the press response to the 'Russian bounties in Afghanistan' nonsense to see why something like this might be seen to be necessary. Even the flimsiest rumor is taken up by the MSM with zeal, putting Trump on the defensive for 'not doing something' about it. It's total nonsense, but that's politics.