Last update - 00:00 12/11/2006
Police suspect 12 Israeli Arabs sold weapons to Palestinians
By Itim
Police suspect 12 Israeli Arabs and three Palestinians of selling large amounts of weapons to West Bank Palestinians over the past two years.
The accusations were made public Sunday, after two of the suspects were indicted in Haifa District Court. Charges will be filed against two additional suspects this week.
Police will not arrest the remaining eight Israeli Arab suspects because they are accused of low-level involvement in the trafficking. They will, however, also be indicted this week, as will the Palestinian suspects.
The weapons were sold in the Palestinian territories at very high prices: the handguns were sold for NIS 14,000, and M-16 rifles were sold for between NIS 20,000 and NIS 24,000.
The group is also suspected of trafficking hundreds of thousands of bullets and various types of hand grenades. Police have as yet been unable to determine the source of the weapons.
The Israeli Arab suspects are residents of Umm al-Fahm, Zalafa, and Ma'awiya in Wadi Ara.