Inspectors thwart attempt to smuggle cigarettes into Gaza inside hollowed-out pineapples — COGAT

Israeli forces at a West Bank border crossing near Kiryat Gat today seized a Gaza-bound “private sector humanitarian aid” truck transporting hundreds of Costa Rican pineapples that were hollowed out to store thousands of illegal cigarettes, according to the Defense Ministry agency that coordinates the entry of goods to Gaza.

The pineapples had been imported by an Israeli company that had a permit to sell certain goods in Gaza under the “private sector humanitarian aid mechanism,” the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories says.

As a result of the smuggling attempt, COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevy has suspended the unnamed company’s “authorization to deliver humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip,” until further notice, COGAT says.

Land Crossings Authority inspectors seized the truck with the cigarettes at the Lachish Crossing, also known as the Tarkumiya Crossing, between Israel and the West Bank, COGAT says. It adds that the truck was headed toward the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza, in the Strip’s south.

Footage published by COGAT shows multiple crates containing pineapples with their bottoms screwed off to reveal dozens of cigarettes inside each fruit.

The bottom of each pineapple was easily taken off once the brand-name sticker attached to the fruit’s body was removed, according to the footage.

The brand name is Ami Gourmet, and the crates indicate the pineapples were grown in Costa Rica, the footage shows. It’s unclear who the distributor is.

COGAT stresses that it “will continue to act decisively against any attempt to smuggle goods or exploit the humanitarian aid mechanism.”

State prosecutors had in February filed charges against 15 suspects, among them IDF reservists, accused of taking part in a major smuggling ring that trafficked goods into the Gaza Strip.

The alleged smuggling ring was linked to Shin Bet chief David Zini’s brother, Bezalel Zini, an IDF reservist in Gaza suspected of having helped the network’s members smuggle cigarettes into the Strip.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.