Police uncover weapons, bombs under Afula building

A sizable cache of weapons and explosives was discovered recently, concealed under a building in the northern city of Afula, police said Tuesday.

The arsenal was found under a public building in a residential area and included material for creating bombs filled with shrapnel, detonating systems and other related items.

It is likely that the explosives were intended for use by elements of the criminal underworld, police said.

There was no immediate mention of when authorities found the cache or of any of suspects, but Israel Radio reported that arrested were expected in connection to the case.

In a Tuesday press conference addressing organized crime, Israeli Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said that recently some of the major criminal figures in the country have gone underground, but it “won’t be long” before they will be apprehended. The police, he said, “will continue our determined and professional fight against criminal organizations.”

Israel has, in recent weeks, seen a string of bombings and shootings which authorities believe are related to conflicts between rival crime syndicates. Last week, a car bomb in Tel Aviv targeted an anti-mob state attorney, but there were no injuries. 

Last month, a powerful car bomb exploded in the southern city of Ashkelon in what police said was an assassination attempt by a criminal organization against a rival group. One person was killed and another severely wounded in the explosion.

The two victims, officials said, were senior members of the Domrani crime family, and authorities feared that a spate of revenge killings in response to the bombing would occur.

Haviv Rettig Gur contributed to this report.