Police nab 3 suspects in deadly W. Bank hit-and-run

Security guard at Sha'arei Tikva settlement killed in accident; car reportedly ran him down and fled the scene.

By BEN HARTMAN
MDA 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
MDA 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Police have arrested three suspects in a hit-and-run accident Sunday morning that took the life of Lior Farhi on the 505 highway in the West Bank.
Police have obtained a gag order on the case, but Ch.- Insp. Dudi Asraf, spokesman for the Judea and Samaria police district, confirmed that one of the suspects, a Kafr Kasim resident, owns the car involved in the crash. Shortly after the accident, the Kafr Kasim resident went to the Rosh Ha’ayin police station to report his car stolen, and was promptly arrested and held for questioning.
The two other suspects are Israeli Arabs from Jaffa, who were arrested in the city several hours after the crash.
Asraf confirmed that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has been assisting in the investigation of the accident, which they do not believe was a terrorist attack or carried out for nationalistic motives.
The 50-year-old Farhi worked as a security officer in the western Samaria settlement of Sha’arei Tikva. On Sunday morning he and another Israeli were filming an attempt to sneak Palestinian workers into an Israeli car near the Green Line, so they could work illegally in Israel.
The alleged smugglers spotted Farhi and his companion.
Farhi then reportedly stood in the highway and tried to stop the car but was run over, Asraf said.
Paramedics evacuated Farhi, but he died in an ambulance on the way to the Rabin Medical Center- Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva.
Shortly thereafter the car was found abandoned on the side of the road near the Oranit interchange, and police and Shin Bet investigators began tracing it to the suspects, who were arrested later in the day.
As of Sunday night, the investigation was ongoing and police were checking possible additional suspects.