Dubai, Feb 28 (DPA) Dubai police said Sunday that Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mahbouh, found dead in his hotel room last month, had been given large amounts of an anesthetic drug and then suffocated to death.

Major General Khamis al-Mazina, Deputy Commander of Dubai police, said in a press conference that al-Mahbouh had been injected with the drug succinylcholine, used to relax patients' muscles and induce total anesthesia.

The murder unleashed international outrage, as it appeared as if the identities of European and Australian nationals had been stolen to act as cover for the assassination gang.

Al-Mazina said the drug was fast-acting, and caused a loss of consciousness for a period of time depending on the amounts administered.

'The victim was injected with this drug and then suffocated in a manner to make the death appear natural, with no signs of a struggle from the victim,' he said.

Police said the drug 'was mostly used in surgeries and emergency medical cases,' and that 'experts were able to detect the drug in the victim's body before it mixed with other materials'.

Dubai has named 26 people suspected of the murder.

Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai's police chief, has said he is '99-percent, if not 100-percent' centain that Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, was responsible for the murder.

In remarks published Saturday in al-Khaleej newspaper, he called on Mossad head Meir Dagan to 'be a man', and admit Mossad carried out the assassination.

Israel has said there is 'no proof' that Mossad was involved.