According to the report, the detainee, Daniel Sharon, was transferred from local police to the custody of Lebanese intelligence after being arrested when his passport photo was found at the scene of a murder.

During his questioning the man said he was visiting Beirut "for tourism purposes" and denied any involvement in intelligence gathering activity.

The newspaper said that during the murder investigation, police officers found a gun belonging to a Lebanese security officer at the scene of the crime, as well as Sharon's passport photo. The victim was identified as a roommate of the Lebanese officer.

The officer told investigators that he had lost his gun and that he was with a friend of German nationality at the time of the murder. The friend, according to the officer, was staying at the Sheraton hotel in Beirut.

Visited Lebanon 11 times since 2005

Police officers dispatched to the hotel arrested the German national, who was later identified as the man pictured in the Israeli passport.

According to Al-Akhbar, Sharon told investigators that he was a homosexual who frequently visited south Beirut's Dahiya district, adding that he traded with Israeli and European countries. The investigation further revealed that Sharon bribed the hotel's check-in clerk in exchange for not registering him by his full name.

The report said Sharon further told the investigators he had converted to Islam and that his full name was Daniel Moussa Sharon and that he was born in 1975. He initially said his father was a Jew of Turkish descent, but later claimed that his father was actually a Syrian-Jew who immigrated to Israel in 1959.

Sharon said he was able to obtain his German passport through his family's connections, adding that he had learned Arabic in the United Arab Emirates and that he also visited Egypt and Jordan on a regular basis.

The investigation also revealed that Sharon had visited Lebanon 11 times since 2005 and that he spent a month there prior to the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War.

Sharon's latest trip to the country began four days ago, and he was supposed to leave on Thursday.