The Haifa District State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment on Friday against three men who filmed themselves holding a stolen IDF MATADOR shoulder-fired missile.
Two of the men, residents of Shfaram aged 22 and 24, were arrested on September 5 in connection with the theft during a targeted operational activity conducted by the Northern District police, an IDF counterterrorism unit, and officers from the military’s Northern Command.
During the investigation, a third suspect, 22, was identified and then arrested after it was discovered that he was a West Bank Palestinian who had entered sovereign Israel illegally.
The Israel Police and Border Police have confiscated more than 700 deadly weapons this year in the fight against arms smuggling and violent crime, but police noted that the MATADOR shoulder missile stolen from the IDF was a highly unusual case.
Four arrested in West Bank for illegal weapons possession
In a similar targeted raid on Thursday, police and Border Police arrested four Palestinian residents of the West Bank on suspicion of owning illegal weapons.
Three suspects, two men in their 20s and a woman in her 50s, were arrested in the village of Jaba, near Nablus, and the fourth, a Nablus resident in his 40s, was arrested in a different village.
In Jaba, Israeli forces found 10 M16 ammunition magazines and hundreds of rounds of various other types of ammunition inside the suspects’ home. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
In the case of the fourth suspect, Israeli forces observed a bag being thrown from a window as they arrived to search the home. The bag contained a pistol, magazines, ammunition, a face mask, and other combat equipment.
Authorities later took the suspect to Ariel for questioning. Following a court hearing, the suspect’s detention was extended until October 26.
Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.