Dubai’s police chief charged this week that Islamist forces that gained power in the Arab Spring are “plotting to take over” Gulf states.

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan singled out the Muslim Brotherhood, saying the group has a specific plan to take over Gulf regimes by 2016.

“My sources say the next step is to make Gulf governments figurehead bodies only without actual ruling. The start will be in Kuwait in 2013,” he said in an interview with Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas on Sunday.

General Khalfan said that he based his information on “leaks” from Western intelligence agencies and this “had been known to us.”

Khalfan said the alleged plot will begin in Kuwait because it is primed for an Islamist takeover “more than any other Gulf state… this is a strategy.”

Sunni Islamists made an impressive show in a February 2 election in Kuwait, securing more than 20 seats in the 50-member parliament.

Dubai is the principal city of the United Arab Emirates, one of the six West-leaning Sunni Arab monarchies that makes up the Gulf Cooperation Council.

GCC nations have sought to stave off the rising tide of populist Islam that threatens the rule by their royal houses, and have previously charged Shiite Persian Iran with stirring up unrest among their Shiite populations.

Khalfan’s comments indicate a fresh schism in the Arab world, however. The Muslim Brotherhood is a major power player in Egypt and Jordan, two nations the GCC has eyed for membership as it moves towards a joint diplomatic and military union.