Haifa area mall guards allow mock car bombs into parking lots

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Just three days after terrorists managed to leave a parked car bomb next to a Haifa mall filled with shoppers, security guards in the Haifa area were once again caught off guard, this time, fortunately, by police sappers who were testing defenses around shopping centers. In an extensive exercise carried out on Tuesday, the sappers drove mock car bombs towards three separate malls in Krayot, on the outskirts of Haifa, and found that they were able to pass through the security checks in each one, before parking their vehicles in underground and external parking lots in and around the shopping centers. Security guards at each mall waved through vehicles which had a large bag in the trunk containing fake explosive materials and mines, and a detonation mechanism planted behind the driver's seat. At the end of the drill, the guards were called for an urgent meeting with police to discuss the failings, together with their supervisors.