Security forces seize 140 kg of poultry in taxi at checkpoint

Security forces seized 140 kilograms of poultry packed into a taxi at a West Bank checkpoint north of Jerusalem on Friday. IDF soldiers and Border Police troops manning the Ofer checkpoint near Ramallah suspected the meat was being smuggled into Israel and was on its way to being delivered to restaurants in Jerusalem.

During a routine inspection of the vehicle, security forces discovered the poorly handled meat. The taxi driver, a 45-year-old Lod resident, was taken in for questioning. The meat was set to be destroyed.

In July, the Agriculture Ministry officials thwarted a plan to smuggle 18,000 eggs from the West Bank into Israel. The eggs, which even had forged stamps on the shells, came from Ramallah, and were intercepted at a checkpoint between Israel and the central West Bank.

A separate incident occurred in April when nine Israelis and Palestinians were arrested on suspicion of smuggling meat into Israel from the West Bank and selling it — with forged kosher certifications and expiration dates — to top Israeli restaurants.

According to police, the meat originated in South America and was sent through the port of Haifa to a Palestinian importer, ostensibly for use in areas of the West Bank governed by the Palestinian Authority. Instead, the meat was stored in a Palestinian town northeast of Jerusalem and smuggled back into Israel under conditions that violated health regulations.