A complex joint Police and Military Police investigation solved serious cases of weapons thefts from military bases and staging areas in northern Israel.
On Tuesday, the Military Prosecution submitted an indictment to the District Military Court against two active-duty soldiers, residents of the north, charging them with severe crimes, including the removal of weapons from military possession and arms trafficking.
The investigation, which began covertly, incorporated special technological means and advanced surveillance tools until the investigators managed to uncover the identities of the two soldiers and arrest them.
According to the indictment, the central suspect in the case, who serves as a technician in a combat battalion, exploited his unfettered access within the base for several months. He entered tents while his fellow soldiers slept and stole three M-4 assault rifles from them.
In another serious incident described in the indictment, the soldier took advantage of the battalion's preparations for operational activity in the staging areas. He approached a military vehicle that was ready for action and removed an FN-MAG heavy machine gun, which was mounted on it. In some instances, the soldier committed the theft with the second suspect, a personal friend who does not serve in the battalion.
The two did not stop at just stealing weapons, but also sold them and transferred them to others, earning a large sum of over 100,000 shekels for the weapons they sold. In addition, the suspects are being charged with robbing and taking hundreds of live munitions from the military, which they took from the operational forces.
The Police and Military Police also discovered that throughout the period, the main suspect repeatedly tried to persuade another soldier who serves with him in the battalion. He offered him a tempting monetary payment to steal bullets, ammunition, and additional weapons from the combat forces in the field to widen the scope of his sales.