Dichter. 'Police need to do above and beyond'
Photo: Niv Calderon
Dichter: Police actively involved in war
Internal security minister says police contending with reduced manpower while combating ongoing terror threat
Police officers have been actively involved in the ongoing war in the North for 20 days now, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said Tuesday during a police ceremony.
"There's no doubt we're in a combat situation," Dichter said. "At this time the police need to do above and beyond in the face of the situation in Lebanon. We also lost some manpower as a result of police officers recruited by the army for the benefit of fighting in the North."
Turning his attention to other problems addressed by the police, Dicther said officers are dealing with "attempts to open another front, as evidenced by the terrorists who sought to carry out attacks in Israel and were captured in recent days as a result of police work."
On Monday, police in Haifa detained two Palestinian illegal aliens on suspicion of planning to stage an attack in the city. A high terror alert was declared in the Haifa region shortly before the two suspects were nabbed, as security forces boosted operations in the area and set up roadblocks.
On Sunday, security authorities acting on specific warnings foiled a suicide attack after nabbing a terrorist carrying an explosive belt in a West Bank taxicab. The terrorist and driver were taken in for interrogation by authorities while sappers were called in to blow up the belt in a controlled detonation.
Last week, security authorities foiled another planned suicide attack in Tel Aviv.
