Shortly after his appointment as crown prince in Saudi Arabia, Prince Muhammad bin Salman launched a campaign of arrests among his opponents at home, and tried to place his hand - as an intimidation and intimidation - on a number of his opponents abroad, and in the meantime the Tiger Division formed a "rough" tool to pounce on some of them.
The world got to know the Tiger Squad after the hideous liquidation of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and it consists of about 50 intelligence, army and forensic experts who were recruited from various Saudi government agencies.
Members of the Tiger Squad carry out secret killings, and their members have expertise in target identification, liquidation and cover-up of crime.
The band moves under the guidance and supervision of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and his former advisor Saud Al-Qahtani, and with the support of Badr Al-Asaker, director of the private office of the Saudi crown prince.
Its most famous operation
The killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2 in his country's consulate in Istanbul is considered one of the most famous assassinations carried out by this squad so far, but it is certain - according to many Western media outlets - that it is not the only killing that this band has committed, which seems a way. Her work and the type of operations adopted to carry out her crimes are interesting.
After the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was exposed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, press investigations concluded that this secret Saudi squad, which was called the "Tiger Squad", was formed by orders of very high leaders in the Kingdom, and it was entrusted with carrying out operations outside the scope of the Saudi security services. However, Khashoggi's killing exposed her.
Investigations showed that the task of this squad is summarized in the liquidation of everyone who opposes the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the matter is not limited to Saudi citizens, but among its tasks was the liquidation of Iranian personalities.
The most prominent elements
The Tiger Squad included 50 members of the best intelligence and military elements in the Kingdom, and the group was recruited from various branches of the Saudi security services that have many areas of expertise, and its members are loyal to the Crown Prince in Riyadh.
Among its most prominent elements:
- Lt. Col. Meshaal Fahad Al-Sayed, a senior DNA expert in the General Department of Forensic Evidence at the Saudi Ministry of Interior. He studied in the Forensic Department at the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences in Riyadh, along with Salah al-Tubaigy, a forensic specialist who used a bone saw to kill and dismember the late Jamal Khashoggi.
Khaled Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Qassem, a DNA technician at the General Department of Criminal Evidence at the Saudi Ministry of Interior.
- Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saleh, a senior military intelligence officer in the Intelligence Department of the Saudi Ministry of Defense, and was the coordinator or commander of the division.
Ibrahim Hamad Abdul Rahman Al-Hamid, works for the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh.
Fatal hunt
In July 2018, Crown Prince Bin Salman and his agents succeeded in planting a spyware program on Saad al-Jabri's phone, after receiving a message with a video file on WhatsApp from a Saudi journalist who knew him in the Kingdom.
The video file contained spyware that allowed access to information on Al-Jabri's phone, and perhaps even its precise location.
In May 2018, the Tiger Squad obtained tourist visas to Canada.
In October 2018, less than two weeks after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Tiger Squad traveled to Canada to clear Jabri.
The FBI is stalking them
Prior to the arrival of the Tiger Squad to Canada, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent the Canadian authorities intelligence information about the date of the division's arrival in Canada.
Members of the squad tried to enter Ontario International Airport through separate booths, and they denied knowing each other, which raised suspicions of border security officials who turned them in for a closer examination, but the airport authorities found in one of their bags a picture of the band’s members.
Border Security also found two bags in the squad's possession that contained forensic tools.
Looking for a way out
The band members were alarmed at not being prepared for this unexpected investigation, so they asked to summon the lawyer of the Saudi embassy, but the lawyer advised the group to claim that they had traveled to Canada to prepare for the visit of a high-ranking Saudi delegation, and to accept their deportation to avoid further investigation.
The Canadian authorities refused to allow entry to the band’s members except for Ibrahim Hamad Abdul Rahman Al Hamid, who works for the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has a diplomatic passport.