By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Palestinian police began confiscating stolen Israeli cars in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday and have beefed up their forces to crack down on growing lawlessness.
The police informed Palestinian terrorist groups, which oversee theft rings and possess illegal weapons, that they also intend to start collecting unlicensed guns, police said.
The factions were told, in the meantime, to obey a recent order to keep their weapons out of the open, the police said.
As part of the crackdown in Nablus, more than 400 special police forces were brought into the city earlier this week, said Dehan Abdullah, a senior police commander in Nablus.
Palestinians working with Israeli crime rings steal thousands of cars from Israel every year although Israel's construction of a barrier along the outskirts of the West Bank has greatly reduced the trend, Palestinian police say. The police estimate that thousands of Israeli stolen cars are located in Nablus.