Gilad Schalit convoy 311.
(photo credit: Channel 10)
In dramatic scenes, police vehicles with flashing lights escorted a convoy
carrying newly-freed soldier Gilad Schalit from a helicopter landing strip to
his home in Mitzpe Hila on Tuesday night, marking the end of a major police
operation.
“He’s finally home,” police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.
“All of our plans went ahead without a glitch.”
Minutes before the
helicopters flew in over the green hills of the Western Galilee, northern police
district head Cmdr. Roni Atiya completed an evaluation meeting with IDF
officials to finalize last-minute details.
Hundreds of police have been
deployed around main roads and junctions in the area of the Schalit residence in
order to allow the family to return home quickly.
The police’s extensive
preparations also included securing convoys ferrying Palestinian security
prisoners from the Ktziot Prison in the south and the Sharon prison to release
points in Rafah and the West Bank.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Prisons
Service completed its own operation to transfer 477 security prisoners to the
release points.
“Some 400 wardens accompanied 10 convoys during the
operation. No unusual incidents were recorded,” a Prisons spokeswoman said.
