Police from the Northern District's Central Unit descended Tuesday upon Kafr Rama, a Galilee village, in a large scale raid.
The raid follows a recent spike in violent crime in the village, including several murders and other serious violence, as a part of warfare between rival clans. The village is one-half Christian Arab, and the rest of the populace is either Druze or Muslim.
Police concentrated in the Abu Latif family compound and impounded vehicles and property worth millions of shekels, as well as various kinds of drugs.
Five suspects were reported arrested in the morning hours, including the heads of the Abu Latif family. The arrested men are suspected, among other things, of a murder in Kafr Mrar, three attempted murders at Kafr Yarka, gun-related offenses, drug dealing, conspiracy to commit a crime and other offenses. All will be brought for remand in the Nazareth Magistrates' Court in the course of the morning, police said.
The Central Unit recently took over the investigations in Kafr Rama after crime reached peak level there. In addition, an undercover investigation has been in place there for 18 months, and evidence it collected will be used for filing charges against suspects.