Arrests (illustration)
Arrests (illustration)Flash 90

The Netanya Crime Unit arrested three Israeli Arabs on Tuesday, according to Channel 2, on charges of burglary and breaking and entering. 

The three men, residents of Baka al-Gharbia in their 30s and 40s, allegedly committed a brutal break-in and robbery at the home of two Holocaust survivors. 

Police believe that robbery was carried out last May, after one of the suspects worked as a plumber for a couple living in central Netanya. The suspect believed the survivors had hidden money in the apartment, and planned an intricate attack on the couple.

According to the victims, the three knocked the door down of the apartment, hurling the 93 year-old owner to the ground before he could refasten the latch to his home. 

After the suspects burst in, one of them restrained the victim's wife, 86 years old, who began to call the neighbors to help. The suspect kept a gun pointed at her and threatened to beat her if she continued to cry out for help.

At the same time another suspect approached the homeowner, then gagged and threaten him. 

The third suspect, meanwhile, stole thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry from the apartment before all three fled. 

The Holocaust survivor told police in the statement that the suspects treated her and her husband brutally.

"I was 15 years old when I was in Auschwitz," she said. "I am the sole survivor from my family - but I was never treated there like I was here [during the robbery]." 

An intensive investigation was launched to find and prosecute the suspects soon after the incident.

The Netanya station commander, Commander Doron Tourjeman, ordered the crime-fighting unit at the station to open an investigation last May to locate the offenders.

Finally, the suspects were apprehended Tuesday - in a move Tourjeman noted was "fulfilling a moral obligation."