Some of the tobacco packages
Some of the tobacco packagesCrossings Authority, Defense Ministry

Crossings Authority security supervisors on Wednesday night foiled an attempt to smuggle 1.5 tons of tobacco into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

The supervisors noted the unusually large amount of tobacco, which is worth hundreds of thousands of shekels in in tax monies.

The tobacco was discovered as supervisors searched the bags, finding they contained chicken vitamins from a Gazan merchant. Noticing suspicious signs, the supervisors began to search more thoroughly, discovering hundreds of packages of compressed tobacco, which had been hidden in the bags.

Authorities confiscated the tobacco, which was transferred to the Customs Authority and will be destroyed.

A few months ago, Crossings Authority supervisors foiled an attempt to smuggle 2 tons of compressed tobacco into Gaza. In that incident, the tobacco had been hidden in 40 refrigerators on their way to Gaza.