Police have arrested a non-commissioned IDF officer for allegedly spying for Hizbullah. The NCO is suspected of passing on military information regarding the IDF's movements along the Lebanese border.
A senior Military Police officer said Wednesday that the NCO was contacted by a group of Israeli criminals known to police for their past involvement in drug-related crimes. The group asked the NCO to provide them with details regarding the IDF’s deployment along the border with Lebanon, from where they received the drugs that they smuggled into Israel.
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After receiving intelligence, an undercover investigation was launched
in January by the Galilee police sub district's Central Unit into the
suspect's alleged activities. The Military Police was brought into the
investigation at a later stage, police said.
The NCO,
a
resident of northern Israel, was then arrested on June 6. Police
say he "passed on critical information to Lebanese drug dealers
associated with Hizbullah regarding IDF movements along the border" in
order to inform them of times when it would be safest to attempt the
smuggling of narcotics into Israel.
During questioning, the NCO told police of the information he passed on
to drug dealers in Lebanon.
Five
other Israeli
civilians have been arrested in the affair and another two are currently
at large.
The additional suspects were arrested over the past two weeks, and have
been named as brothers Salah and Osama Wahed, of the Druse village of
Jedida, brothers Shadi and Jalal Gazawi, of the Druse village of Rama,
Amir Abu-Yaman, of Rama, and Samir Farud, of Rama. Muhammad Taun, of
Ablin, are said to be evading police efforts to apprehend them.
The Acre Magistrate's extended the custody of all of the civilian
suspects twice this month, while the NCO's custody was extended twice by
a military court.
The NCO will be charged in the coming days with passing on information
to the enemy, and holding contacts with a foreign agent. He will also be
charged with plotting and attempting to import drugs.
The remainder of the suspects will be charged with plotting to import
drugs into the country
Dep.-Cmdr. Menachem Haver, head of Galilee police sub district, said the
police's war against the drug trade "is paying dividends," and stressed
the "shortage in the drugs market." He added that "much remained to be
done in the war against drug dealers."
The Israel Police deploys the elite Lebanon Border Special Drug Unit.
Its camouflaged officers are tasked with lying in ambush along the
northern frontier in order to intercept cross border drugs smuggling.