By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
Police settled an account they had waited three years to close on Thursday night with the arrest of one of the country's most notorious agricultural bandits.
After a brief pursuit by foot, members of an elite police unit, together with a special Border Police unit, finally apprehended a 25-year-old Idna resident described as one of the area's top cattle rustlers and agricultural thieves.
The suspect was wanted by many police throughout the south for robberies, including cattle theft. Considered a violently dangerous criminal, he allegedly escaped twice during the police chase, both times through accelerating toward the police checkpoints, ramming police cars and injuring police officers.
A year and a half ago, in an attempt to evade the law, the suspect ran over the former commander of the elite police unit, injuring him.
In recent nights, a joint operation of the police and Border Police units called "Secure Area," under the command of Ch.-Supt. Shai Badash, operated in the eastern front of the Green Line, working together with military reconnaissance units and a police reconnaissance helicopter in order to catch the suspect.
On Thursday night, the suspect was spotted driving in a vehicle that had been stolen from Sde David. Similar to the two previous encounters, he began to accelerate towards the checkpoint. But this time, police were ready, and employed special measures to cause the car to come to a stop.
The suspect, together with an additional suspect, fled the car on foot, but the two were caught immediately by police officers. The police investigation into the long series of allegations continued throughout the weekend.