The southern region of the special Police Mist'aravim Unit,
whose police detectives pose as Arabs, conducted a successful
pre-dawn operation on 10 Tammuz. Goal: apprehension of
thieves -- Arabs and Jews -- suspected of smuggling Israeli
cars into Palestinian Authority areas. The mist'aravim
were deployed in various places throughout the country,
hoping to apprehend 56 suspects. A total of 41 were
arrested.
During the past 18 months, Israel Police Forces have
conducted nine such operations, in which a total of 750
suspects were arrested for conspiracy to sell stolen cars to
buyers in the Palestinian Authority. The suspects are accused
of forming a conspiracy for the commission of crime,
conveying false information and falsifying information
presented to insurance companies.
Police believe that Jewish thieves sold their cars to
residents of the Palestinian Authority who would, in turn,
transfer them to the Gaza Strip. They would later notify
police that their cars had been stolen, and then apply to the
insurance companies to receive full compensation.
In addition to the insurance they collected, the suspects
pocketed another NIS 20-30 thousand for the sale of the late-
model cars to residents of the Palestinian Authority.
Spokesman of the Southern Region, Deputy Police Commander
Yossi Koppel told Yated Ne'eman that 18 of the
suspects admitted the crimes attributed to them and were
released pending the trial. The other suspects were brought
to court in Beersheva and Ashdod where they were remanded for
2-6 days.
