MBS talked about using a 'poison ring' to kill the Saudi king in 2014 so his father could take the throne, exiled spy says
MBS talked about using a 'poison ring' to kill the Saudi king in 2014 so his father could take the throne, exiled spy says
Sinéad Baker
18 hours ago
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Royal Council via Getty Images
- Mohammed bin Salman said in 2014 he could kill the then-king with a poison ring from Russia, a former spy said.
- Saad al-Jabri, a former Saudi spy chief who fled the country in 2017, made the claim about MBS.
- Al-Jabri told "60 Minutes" that MBS bragged he could do it so his father could take the throne.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — also known as MBS — talked in 2014 about using a "poison ring" to kill the country's then-king so that his father could take the crown, a former Saudi spy chief said.
Saad al-Jabri, a former Saudi intelligence chief who fled the country in 2017, told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview aired Sunday about a meeting that he said took place in 2014 between MBS and the then-head of Saudi intelligence, Mohammed bin Nayef.
(MBS was a Saudi minister at the time; he became crown prince of Saudi Arabia in 2017 after ousting Mohammed bin Nayef from the role.)
Al-Jabri said that, in the meeting, MBS bragged that he could kill King Abdullah in order to leave his father Salman the throne.
"I want to assassinate King Abdullah. I get a poison ring from Russia," MBS had said, according to al-Jabri.
Al-Jabri said that Saudi intelligence was not sure if MBS was telling the truth or not, but said "we took it seriously." Al-Jabri also said the meeting was recorded, and that he knows where two copies of the tape are.
King Abdullah died in 2015, aged 91. He had been suffering from a lung infection, and there were no reports suggesting he was poisoned.
Crown Prince Salman, Abdullah's half-brother and MBS's father, was then named the new king.
Al-Jabri has accused MBS of plotting to kill him in Canada, where he is now based, and called MBS a "psychopath" and a "killer."
He sued MBS in a Washington, DC, court last August, alleging the prince sent a hit squad to kill him in Toronto in October 2018.