Last update - 00:00 17/12/2006
Seven IDF soldiers indicted for stealing weapons from base
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
Eleven people - seven of whom are active Israel Defense Forces soldiers - have been indicted for allegedly stealing weapons from an army base in the Western Galilee, the State Prosecution announced on Sunday after a gag order on the case was lifted.
The soldiers and their accomplices are accused of extracting large amounts of weaponry from the base through a temporary breach in its fence.
The soldiers are residents of the villages of Rama, Peki'in and Abu Snan and serve in the IDF's Druze battalion. In their indictment, they are accused of entering the base on five different occasions and removing an anti-tank missile, dozens of grenades and smoke grenades, plastic explosives and ammunition. One of the soldiers, Sergeant Malik Fares, is also being charged with attempted disruption of a criminal investigation.
Police claim Fares' brother, Edi, together with Adaham and Balal Hassan assisted him in transporting the weapons from the base and in the purchase of other weapons from IDF soldiers. Another suspect, Sharbel Azam, from the village of Ibalin, is said to have paid NIS 21,000 for seven grenades, 50 units of plastic explosives and ten detonators.
State prosecution attorney Tsachi Nimorvsky indicated in the warrant for the suspects' arrest that the majority of stolen ammunition had not yet been accounted for.
Senior police official Commander Menachem Haber said an investigation was launched last September when the army first reported the theft. Haber added that there was no evidence that the ordnance had reached terrorist organizations.
Attorney Basal Falah, who represents six of the suspects, said his clients denied the allegations and that some of the their statement were taken under unlawful means.
"There has been an attempt to stitch-up these low-ranking soldiers and I think the army must check itself thoroughly," Falah said. "How is it possible that for over a month all sorts of elements found their way into an IDF base in the north only days after the end of the Lebanon War and nobody noticed it?"