LONDON, 29 June 2007 — A billionaire son-in-law of a former Egyptian president who reportedly spied for Israel in wartime has been found dead in London, media reports said yesterday.

Ashraf Marwan, 63, was alleged to have acted as a secret agent for Israel’s Mossad spy agency during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, reportedly with the code name “Babel.” London’s Metropolitan Police would say only that a man believed to be in his 60s was found dead in an upscale London apartment complex, but declined to identify the man, pending formal identification and the next of kin being informed.

“It is understood he may have fallen from a balcony, but enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the death do continue,” a police spokeswoman said, adding that the death was being treated as unexplained at present.

According to The Times newspaper of London, Marwan offered his services to Israel in 1969 and in the ensuing years provided information on Egypt and the Arab world that senior Israeli ministers would describe as priceless.

Israeli public radio said Marwan, son-in-law of late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, had spied for Israel and warned of the 1973 Yom Kippur War several hours before it broke out.

On Oct. 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched attacks on Israel on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar to recover territory lost in the 1967 war. But they were again defeated by Israel.

Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but relations between the two remain tense.