Israeli police say they thwarted a large smuggling operation over the weekend in Ar’ara in the southern Israel’s Negev, seizing goods worth around 1 million shekels that were suspected to be destined for the Gaza Strip.
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Hundreds of cartons of cigarettes found during a smuggling operation police raid in the community of Ar’ara in the Negev, over the past weekend. Credit: Police spokesperson
Hundreds of cartons of cigarettes found during a smuggling operation police raid in the community of Ar’ara in the Negev, over the past weekend. Credit: Police spokesperson
According to police, officers from the Negev District raided a home in the town and broke into a locked room where large quantities of merchandise were found.
The haul included about 700 mobile phones, hundreds of cartons of cigarettes, hair straighteners, shaving machines and additional goods. Investigators suspect much of the merchandise was stolen from Israeli stores.
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Approximately 700 mobile phones found during a smuggling operation police raid in the community of Ar’ara in the Negev, over the past weekend. Credit: Police spokesperson
Approximately 700 mobile phones found during a smuggling operation police raid in the community of Ar’ara in the Negev, over the past weekend. Credit: Police spokesperson
The property owner, a resident of the community in his 40s, and his wife in her 20s, were arrested and transferred for questioning.
The army has been seeing more and more expensive goods in the Gaza Strip of late, and sources in the Southern Command have confirmed that the source of the smuggling is not at the border with Egypt – but in Israeli territory. The army suspects that Israeli citizens – contractors for the Defense Ministry in Gaza, truck drivers, infrastructure workers and sometimes regular and reserve soldiers – are smuggling equipment into the Strip in exchange for money, while taking advantage of the army’s shaky security on the Gaza border.
According to army estimates, some of the smuggling is done through official crossings and coordination – in humanitarian aid trucks; others are carried out through breaches in the fence, unsupervised crossings and drones – suspected to be mainly by criminals from Bedouin society.
If Israel continues to allow the smuggling, the IDF warns, it could financially strengthen Hamas.