A truck carrying 19 tons of unsupervised agricultural produce from the Palestinian Authority was seized at the Samaria checkpoint over the weekend. This, as part of an initiated enforcement activity of the Central Unit for Enforcement and Investigations in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (crackdown), to thwart smuggling of agricultural produce in a shmita (sabbatical) year.
According to the suspicion, the goods, which include cabbage, lettuce, parsley and more, were smuggled for marketing in Kiryat Gat, for use by populations that do not consume food according to a sale permit in the year of shmita. The truck driver, known to the unit from previous incidents, was detained for questioning.