An army excavator suspected of having been stolen from mustering grounds on the Gaza border was found in the Palestinian West Bank City of Huwara yesterday, police say.
The piece of heavy machinery was spotted by Border Police officers returning to their base after take part in operations along the Syria border, who stopped to investigate and found it had seemingly been taken from southern Israel, a police statement says.
A resident of Huwara in his 50s was arrested as a suspect.
There is no comments from the Israel Defense Forces, which has struggled for years to crack down on theft of military equipment, though usually of more diminutive items.
The border cops had been one of several units scrambled to the Golan Heights yesterday to deal with chaos as Druze spurred by fighting in southern Syria tore through the border fence, with some entering Syria, and others crossing from Syria into Israel.
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