Military Police probe troops’ killing of Bedouin man during Egypt border smuggling

Military Police have opened an investigation into the death of a Bedouin Israeli man who was shot by soldiers during an attempt to smuggle drugs into the country from Egypt last week.

On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces published an initial probe on the deadly incident, which occurred on December 14 in the Mount Harif region of the Negev Desert where attempts to smuggle drugs into Israel are frequent.

According to the IDF, several suspects attempted to smuggle drugs over the border at two locations during the incident.

Soldiers of the Shahar Battalion, part of the Home Front Command search and rescue unit, who were dispatched to the scene opened fire at the smugglers for as-yet unclear reasons.

Nimr Salman al-Amrani, the 27-year-old Bedouin man, was struck by the gunfire and was taken by the alleged smugglers in a vehicle and then was tossed out shortly thereafter, the IDF said.

He was treated by military medics, but his death was declared at the scene.

The IDF says many smuggling attempts on the border with Egypt are violent, with suspects opening fire at both Israeli and Egyptian troops. Several deadly encounters between Israeli troops and drug smugglers occurred last year.

However, it was unclear if such a clash had occurred during the December 14 incident. Generally, soldiers are permitted to open fire if their lives are in danger and a suspect has the means and intent to commit an attack.

The IDF the Military Police would submit its findings for examination by the military prosecutor’s office.

Israel says Egyptian smugglers operate by tossing contraband over the border to Israelis, who then sell the drugs in Israel. The smugglers mostly traffic in marijuana and hashish from grow houses in the Sinai Peninsula, but sometimes harder drugs like cocaine and heroin are smuggled in as well.

Though the IDF is tasked with preventing smuggling along the Israeli-Egyptian border, the military typically strives to avoid direct confrontations with Israeli drug smugglers, leaving those to the police.

The army says that in the past year around 450 smuggling attempts were “disrupted” by the army — meaning soldiers were dispatched to the scene causing the smugglers to back away; and another 75 were fully foiled, with the drugs, and sometimes suspects, captured and handed over to police.

The military assesses that some 125 smuggling attempts on the Egyptian border this year were successful.

The IDF says the value of some 3,000 kilograms of drugs seized on the border this year is around NIS 135 million ($40 million).