In a joint operation, the ISA, Southern District Police Magen Unit, and IDF have uncovered significant infrastructure belonging to a ring that was smuggling arms from Jordanian territory into Israel and from there to Judea and Samaria.
Following an undercover police and ISA investigation, over the past two months, authorities have arrested nine Israeli Arabs from the Negev region, Bir Hadaj, and the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, all belonging to the smuggling ring.
The investigation found that the members of the ring were involved in two significant smuggling operations at the Jordanian border during the second half of 2024, which used cars loaded with a large amount of various arms to cross the border from Jordan into Israel.
In addition, it found that the smuggling ring leader, Foaz Altouhi, 28, from the village of Bir Hadaj in the Negev, paid the other members tens of thousands of shekels for their involvement. Additionally, Altouhi managed a dealing ring with two other Israeli citizens, a father and son, from the Negev region.
Authorities also found that dozens of weapons' components that were smuggled by the ring from the Jordanian border were sold to two suspects, a father and son, residents of the Negev and Judea and Samaria, through the mediation of another suspect from Judea and Samaria.
As part of the investigation, the members of the ring handed over 34 handguns and four rifles.
In the past few days, four indictments were submitted against ten suspects. According to the indictment, a sizable number of weapons were imported through the Israel-Jordan border, in a sophisticated and bold manner. In addition, some of the suspects breached the border fence and left it open for free passage, all in exchange for money. The suspects were charged with crimes of arms dealing, carrying and transferring weapons, damaging IDF property, assisting in the illegal exit from the country, drug offenses, and more.