The Israeli military and police forces foiled a massive weapon smuggling attempt from Lebanon on Monday night.
Police said the involvement of Lebanon-based Hezbollah was being investigated, after previous smuggling incidents in northern Israel pointed toward the connection of the terror group, which is known to employ Israeli criminals in order to smuggle weapons across the border.
During the raid, the forces seized some 100 grenades of various kinds, as well as two rifles allegedly intended for future terror attacks within Israel.
"Hezbollah obtains weapons while ensuring that at least some of them are kept for terrorist activity, thus trying to create an infrastructure for terrorist attacks within Israel’s territory,” the police said in its statement.
"The fact that grenades were seized - an unusual weapon that was never uncovered during smuggling raids in the past - raises the suspicion that they were intended for attacks in crowded civilian places."
The police further lauded the officers of the Northern District Border Unit, “who operate throughout the Northern District, bordering Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, and these elite fighters work with the rest of the Central Unit police all year round… to prevent and thwart smuggling of weapons and dangerous drugs into Israel.”
According to police data, since the beginning of 2022, Israeli forces thwarted dozens of smuggling attempts, during which they seized 148 pistols, 23 assault rifles and other weapons, as well as drugs with a cumulative value of millions of shekels.
The smuggling attempt from Lebanon comes less than a day after Israeli forces seized an illegal gun shipment worth around $24 million, which was bound to Israel through the Jordanian border.
Police added that a 29-years-old resident of Jericho suspected of being linked to the smuggling attempt was arrested shortly after the guns were seized.
"Seizures of weapons in Arab local authorities and villages have increased demand, with traders and smugglers being forced to take increasing risks when it comes to acquiring weapons," said the commander of the Border Police unit who seized the guns near the Jordanian border.
“In the unit's unique activity since the beginning of the year, pistols and assault rifles were seized, which if we had not caught, would have reached criminal elements across the country… [and used] for terrorist attacks, the likes of which we experienced recently.”