27 arrested in raid on illicit arms in Arab community

Follows 4-month Border Police undercover operation; police say weapons trade was "highly sophisticated," with cooperation from W. Bank.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Border Police Drill 311 (photo credit: Israel Police)
Border Police Drill 311
(photo credit: Israel Police)
Twenty-seven people from across Arab communities in the North were arrested on Monday morning during a Border Police raid aimed at disrupting the flow of illegal arms.
The police action followed a four-month-long undercover investigation run by the northern Border Police's Erez central unit.
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Police said the weapons trade had become "highly sophisticated" and was being managed "in cooperation with criminal elements from the West Bank." Officers under the command of deputy Border Police head Lt.-Cmdr. Aharon Aksol and the head of the northern Border Police Asst.-Cmdr. Uzi Levi, led officers to homes of suspects in Nazareth, Kfar Kana, Tura'an, A'ablin, Dir Hana, Reina, Um el-Fahm, Maiser, Daburia, and Shibli.
Police said firearms and a large quantity of ammunition were seized during the raids.
"This is another stage in our determined efforts to secure the personal safety of civilians," the police's northern district head, Cmdr. Shimon Koren, said following the arrests on Monday.