Seven men indicted on suspicion of smuggling arms from Syria into Israel

State prosecutors file charges against seven men on suspicion of smuggling arms from Syria earlier this year, during clashes between government forces and Druze in the country’s south.

Masses of Druze Israelis, mostly young men, poured into southern Syria during the fighting to protect their brethren, and police arrested a handful as they crossed the border to return home.

Now, four Druze Israelis and three Syrian nationals are accused of “exploiting the conflict in Syria to smuggle weapons into Israel” under the guise of “humanitarian activity.”

In two separate indictments, the defendants are charged in the Nazareth District Court with importing and possessing arms, weapons trafficking and conspiracy. They were arrested alongside five IDF soldiers who allegedly helped spirit the contraband from Syrian territory to criminal elements in northern Israel.

The indictments come a day after the Shin Bet, IDF and police announced they had uncovered the weapons smuggling ring and arrested 12 suspects involved. The Syrian citizens, from the Druze village of Hader, were detained by the IDF in Syria last month during an overnight operation.

One indictment is filed against Rami Abu Shaah, from Shefa-Amr, and the three Syrian Druze, who allegedly sold the former an AK-47 which he smuggled back into Israel for his own personal use. Abu Shaah later recruited an IDF soldier serving in southern Syria to smuggle another handgun and 200 rounds of ammunition on his behalf, prosecutors write.

Abu Shaah also allegedly conspired to import a cache of army-grade weapons into Israel, transferring money to the Syrian defendants for them to purchase two RPG launchers, ten RPG grenades, two assault rifles and two ammunition crates. The Syrian defendants tried to find someone to transport the weapons, but were arrested before they could follow through with the plan.

The other indictment, filed against three Druze Israelis from Yarka, accuses the defendants of conspiring with two soldiers and the same Syrian defendants in order to smuggle arms into Israel.

The exchange was allegedly carried out via an army truck driver who brought the weapons, including seven assault rifles and two handguns, to an IDF base in the Golan Heights, where they were picked up by the defendants.