Dubai’s police chief Dahi Khalfan warned yesterday that if Muslim Brotherhood comes to power in Syria, the trouble would spill over into Saudi Arabia since the Brotherhood has substantial following in that country.

The Muslim Brotherhood has a large number of cells in Saudi Arabia that are inactive now but the moment the outfit captures power in Syria its Saudi cells would become active,said Khalfan.

“They are a big group in Saudi Arabia,” added Khalfan about the Brotherhood. “They (Brotherhood) coming to power in Syria should in fact ring alarm bells in the entire Gulf region.”

Known for Brotherhood-bashing, Khalfan told Rotana Al Khalijia TV channel yesterday the organisation is using Islam only to seize political power.

Khalfan was the guest on the TV station’s popular show ‘Fee Assamim’ (meaning Direct in Arabic).

The Muslim Brotherhood, he said, is a severe threat to the Gulf countries so these countries must join hands and form a union to confront the challenge.

“If some of the GCC countries are unwilling to join the union so be it. Let the remaining three or four countries get together and form the union,” said the Dubai police chief.

He said that Muslim Brotherhood members came to the Gulf countries to escape government crackdowns in their respective countries and integrated into the society and took up jobs including those of teachers. The outcome has been dangerous as these people have been able to propagate their ideology among the younger generation in the Gulf, he said.

And now they are using their influence with these younger people and moulding and training them to launch rebellion against their own governments (in the Gulf), he added.

The Brotherhood is in league with some liberals in the West and is sending youngsters from the Gulf to the West so they could mobilise support and come back and try to topple governments in their respective countries, Khalfan said. The Brotherhood’s mission in the Gulf is to ensure that the existing rulers are turned into figure heads while it grabs the actual power, he said. 

The Brotherhood aims to launch a Mahatma Gandhi-style non-violent resistance movement against the Gulf regimes which, Khalfan said he feared would turn violent after it takes off as it happened in Libya and Syria.

Khalfan said that the Brotherhood is providing training to local youngsters on how to infiltrate public security agencies and how to seize political power.

“I have information… and we have our own men planted among them (Brotherhood),” Khalfan said when asked by the anchor of the TV show if he could substantiate the claims he was making against the Brotherhood.

The Dubai Police Chief further said that a number of young citizens in the UAE and Saudi Arabia who owe allegiance to Brotherhood go and pay their respects to the head of the organisation (Murshid) and pledge their loyalty to him.

The Murshid (spiritual head) then appoints them as emir (head) of the areas they come from in their respective countries.

“Who is this Murhsid to appoint emirs in our countries when we already have our own rulers,” Khalfan said.

The Brotherhood claims that is has no sinister designs in the Gulf but such claims are hollow, said Khalfan.