Second Arab weapon-snatching gang may be operating in North

“It’s too soon to say whether we are dealing with a similar group in this case,” police source tells 'Post'.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Police in Migdal Ha’emek are investigating a report that a gang tried to snatch a soldier’s weapon on Tuesday night.
The soldier said he was standing at a bus stop near Moshav Nahalal around midnight when three men approached him. One man allegedly attempted to forcefully take his firearm. The soldier said he successfully resisted the robbery, and exchanged blows with his attacker.
The soldier then walked away from the bus stop, and noticed “suspicious individuals” approaching him. The soldier fired several rounds in the air to scare the potential attackers away. Police say the shots were fired 2 km. from the bus stop.
Police are set to question the soldier again on Wednesday.
On Sunday, eight Arab Israelis, most of them from Sakhnin, were charged in Haifa District Court with plotting and carrying out attacks on soldiers and stealing their firearms.
The gang allegedly targeted soldiers standing alone as they hitchedrides home or to their bases, and robbed one soldier of his weapon inKarmiel.
“It’s too soon to say whether we are dealing with asimilar group in this case,” a police source familiar with the latestinvestigation told The Jerusalem Post.
Whilepolice were “taking the account seriously,” the source said, apreliminary investigation found that “this second alleged incident doesnot share the same characteristics” with the one involving the suspectsfrom Sakhnin.
“We are not ruling out any possibility,” the source said.