Soldiers arrested for working with Palestinian smugglers

Four soldiers and a security guard suspected of collaborating with Palestinian smugglers were arrested on Monday morning, N12 reported.

Police arrested them after a covert investigation that lasted several months, according to the report. The suspects, who served at a military checkpoint, allegedly collaborated with Palestinian truck drivers and smuggled merchandise, stolen vehicles and weapons into the West Bank.

During the covert investigation carried out by the Israel Police and the Special Investigations

Unit of the Military Police, detectives suspected that equipment had illegally gone through one of the checkpoints in the area. The investigators suspected that soldiers were collaborating with the smugglers after receiving a bribe.

Four residents of the South, two Palestinians and four soldiers were arrested. Detectives searching the homes of the suspects discovered a total of NIS 160,000, two tow trucks, laptops, rifle magazines and ammunition.

“Shortly after launching the investigation, we identified a dangerous phenomenon involving security personnel responsible for maintaining the public’s safety,” Israel Police Yehuda District Cmdr. Dudi Hayun said. “This operation is one of several operations being carried out by police and security forces in an attempt to minimize crime entering Israel from Judea and Samaria and vice versa.”

Military Police Lt.-Col. Yaniv Horesh, commander of the Special Investigations Unit, said the IDF and the police would continue to be a moral security net for “eradicating improper criminal activities to allow the IDF and its units to succeed and to prevent any harm to the State of Israel.”