Cop tells of stopping Palestinian suspect, despite no prior intel on attack plans

Sharif Hasson, one of the cops involved in the arrest of an armed Palestinian suspected of planning a terror attack in Tel Aviv says the man had “no chance to resist arrest.”

“We were in Jaffa, we identified a suspicious person, stopped him and while we were checking him he admitted that he was in Israel illegally, didn’t have any papers or ID,” he tells gathered media.

“He had a bag, and there was something metal poking out. The bag was heavy, really heavy. While checking the bag we saw it was a gun. We told the guy to get on the floor, that he was under arrest,” he adds.

השוטרים שעצרו את המחבל ביפו מספרים על רגעי המעצר הדרמטיים: התיק שלו היה כבד, בצבץ ממנו ברזל @daniel_elazar pic.twitter.com/P4SWk75hCO

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He says the suspect was wearing all black, with a hat and a big bag, which aroused the officers’ suspicion.

“He had no chance to resist arrest,” Sharif tells Army Radio.

A police source tells the Walla news site that there was no specific intel on an attack that led the police to be extra alert, though there had been warnings about the suspect himself, who had recently been released from prison after being caught with a knife on the Temple Mount.

“A dangerous evening was averted,” the source says.