Police arrested a 19-year old Palestinian Authority resident in the coastal city of Netanya Monday morning, following his attempt to pass off a stolen Israeli identity card as his own.
The man, who showed up at an Interior Ministry office in Netanya, claimed to be an Israeli citizen, and that his old ID card had been damaged.
The suspect requested the ministry issue him a replacement ID card. However, an alert clerk noticed that the man who presented the ID card was not who he claimed to be. Rather than provide the man with a new ID card – which would have included a new picture of him, rather than the owner of the original card – the clerk quietly notified police, who later took the man into custody.
During their investigation, police discovered that the man was residing in Israel illegally, and had apparently stolen the ID card in question.