Released: The "Jewel in the Arava" affair - Southern District police officers in cooperation with IDF forces from the 80th Division foiled a huge smuggling of weapons from the Jordanian border including 137 weapons, 250 cartridges and many weapon parts with a total value of approximately 6 million shekels. As part of the activity, a squad of 4 smugglers, residents of the Yeruham Bedouin diaspora, was arrested.
Over the past few months, the Protection, Borders and Presence Unit of the Negev region, together with the intelligence units of the Southern District, conducted an undercover investigation, which was nicknamed "Jewel in the Aravah" against a network of illegal weapons smuggling from Jordan to the territory of the State of Israel and for which it is suspected that the members of the network were responsible for huge smuggling of weapons and ammunition. The soldiers of the unit operated in the desert on the border of Jordan near the settlement of Zofar in ambushes and observations in combination with a variety of technological means with the aim of thwarting the smuggling of ammunition through the border which is suspected to be used by elements of hostile sabotage activity and criminal elements to commit serious crimes.
As part of the activity that took place last week, an intelligence indication was received following which the police forces of the Protected Areas, Borders and Presence Unit, the Negev Special Patrol Unit, the undercover unit of the Southern Border Guard with the assistance of the Israel Police Air Force, observation and IDF forces from the Yoav Brigade and Division 80 in the Arava near the border to the Zofar settlement, prepared.
During the preparation, the forces identified suspects who arrived with their vehicle near the Jordanian border. The forces narrowed their range towards the suspects who began to escape and these were caught by the forces in the field, who acted with determination while striving for contact, and arrested 2 smugglers who were on the spot and the manager of the smuggling network and another assistant who also tried to escape from the scene.
During the operation, a number of sacks and bags that the smugglers tried to smuggle were seized, in which 137 weapons were hidden, including 120 pistols, and 17 M16 rifles. In addition, many weapon parts used to convert weapons into firearms were seized in the sacks, including 35 weapon assemblies, rifle parts, and approximately 250 cartridges of pistols and rifles. The Jeep Landcruiser and Toyota Corolla vehicles, which were used by the smugglers' squad, were also seized for the purposes of confiscation procedures.
The police say that this is the foiling of one of the largest weapons smuggling uncovered in recent years from the Jordanian border with a total value of about 6 million NIS. The thwarting of the smuggling prevented the introduction of illegal weapons to criminal elements and hostile sabotage activity that harms the safety and well-being of the public."
The suspects, residents of the Yeruham Bedouin diaspora in their 20s and 30s, were interrogated by the Protection, Borders and Presence Unit of the Negev Region and their detention was extended from time to time by the Beer Sheva Magistrate's Court.
At the end of the activity, the soldiers of the Protection, Borders and Presence Unit dedicated the capture of the weapons to their unit mate Major General Alik Pozniakov, who fell in the battle in Re'im and was an integral part of the operational preparations that preceded the thwarting of the smuggling.