Shin Bet employee indicted for smuggling goods into Gaza, reportedly earning millions
Several others, including a Palestinian, also charged in case, which is under a gag order, according to joint statement from police and Shin Bet
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A Shin Bet employee was among several people indicted on Thursday for smuggling goods into the Gaza Strip in exchange for money that reportedly amounts to millions of dollars.
A joint statement from the Shin Bet and the Israel Police confirmed the existence of the case after it was leaked to Hebrew media outlets by police sources.
According to the statement, a number of Israeli citizens, including a Shin Bet employee, as well as a Palestinian, were charged in the Central District Court on Thursday in connection with the case.
The charges include assisting the enemy in wartime, obtaining something by fraud under aggravated circumstances, prohibited dealings in property for terrorist purposes, accepting a bribe, giving a bribe, deceit, subterfuge and dealing in prohibited property, the Shin Bet and police said.
The statement said the defendants smuggled goods into Gaza “in exchange for large sums of money.”
The Shin Bet said that aside from the details provided in the statement, a gag order is in effect “on the details of the indictment and the investigation” for reasons of national security.
According to i24News, which was the first to report on the case, the Shin Bet employee was caught with NIS 6.5 million ($2.1 million) in his possession. He is suspected of trafficking equipment worth millions of shekels via trucks headed into the Strip, according to a police source speaking to Haaretz.
The fresh indictments come amid a high-profile Gaza smuggling scandal involving Bezalel Zini, an IDF reservist and the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini.
It was not immediately clear if the new case is connected in any way to the same smuggling ring.
Zini and 14 others were indicted earlier this month for allegedly being part of a wide-ranging smuggling ring that saw millions of shekels of goods smuggled into Gaza, including cigarettes, iPhones, batteries, telecommunications cables and car parts.
Zini, an IDF reservist who headed logistics for IDF forces doing demolition work in Gaza, is suspected of abusing his access to the enclave to smuggle 14 crates of cigarettes from Israel into Gaza on three occasions, earning a total of NIS 365,000 ($117,405).
The IDF said several weeks ago that it “views very gravely the phenomenon of smuggling into the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a major risk to state security.” The military added that “if IDF personnel in the standing army or in reserve service are involved in these activities, the matter is even more severe.”
David Zini, the Shin Bet chief, is not suspected of any wrongdoing in the case. The case is being investigated by the Israel Police, instead of the Shin Bet, due to the agency chief’s family ties to the suspect.
Charlie Summers contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.