From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Shin Bet: 4 Israelis arrested last month for smuggling in Iranian-made explosives
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Shin Bet security agency reveals that in July, four Israeli civilians were arrested for suspected ties to the Hezbollah terror group, and were involved in smuggling Iranian-made explosive devices into the country.
According to the Shin Bet, three residents of the northern Arab town of Kafr Qasim were arrested over suspicions they had smuggled into Israel “a large number of quality weapons.” The agency says two Iranian-made explosive devices, among other weapons, were seized.
In a separate raid in the central city of Lod, security forces arrested another Israeli planning to use a similar explosive device for a criminal-related bombing.
“The Shin Bet investigation revealed that Hezbollah worked to recruit and operate an infrastructure of smugglers in Israel for the purpose of distributing unusual illegal weapons to various parties, including criminal elements,” the agency says.
The Shin Bet names the suspects as Jalal Khursa, 28, Ahmed Issa, 30, and Muhammed Issa, 39, from Kafr Qasim, and Nuh Assam, 30, from Lod. They were indicted today on various weapons offenses.
“This affair once again illustrates the efforts of terror elements from Hezbollah and Iran to exploit the Arab citizens of Israel for [terror] activities against the state,” a senior Shin Bet official says.
“It also emerged in the investigation that the line between [terror] and criminal [activity] is extremely thin,” the official adds.
The Times of Israel Community.