Mahmoud Esh Al-Istal, a Jordanian citizen, was caught spying for the UAE in the guise of a Turkish journalist. It had to be communicated to the concerned authorities.
Al-Istal, 6, worked for the UAE for a total of 11 years and received 400,000 (over Rs. 68 million) in return, having lived in Turkey for the past seven years as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. As an investigative journalist with an organization called Nam, he was tasked with providing information on members of the fraternity living in Turkey, as well as those living in the UAE and the UAE who had fled their countries.
His additional responsibilities included providing intelligence on Turkish politics and information on those who could work for the UAE. The arrested person communicated through a special software called Emirati Intelligence on his mobile phone and laptop. Officers installed, the accused received $2700 a month and was paid $11,000 before moving to Turkey in 2013, and 2015 50,000 in 2015 to buy a flat in Turkey. According to the report, Al-Astal was allegedly in contact with four people in the UAE intelligence whose code names are Abu Rashid, Abu Ali, Abu Suhail and Abu Faris. One of them took charge of Al-Istal and the other had met him four years ago in Istanbul, Turkey. The man was arrested in September but his latest details came to light yesterday.
