Soldier
צילום: רויטרס
Suspicion: Soldier stages attack, sells his weapon
Prosecution issues indictment against two young Druze on claims they were involved in acquiring weapon from soldier. Soldier also – who pocketed tens of thousands of shekels – will soon sit on defendants' bench
The Haifa District Prosecution issued an indictment Tuesday in the city's district court against two minors, residents of a Druze village in the western Galilee, charged with being involved in acquiring a rifle from an IDF soldier, also a resident of their village, after which the two allegedly helped the soldier stage an attack during which his weapon was supposedly snatched. In the coming days, the prosecution is expected to issue and indictment against the soldier as well.
The affair started a little more than a month ago when the soldier, Iyob Abdullah, left the base on which he was serving and drove home to Kissra, armed with his Galil rifle and a magazine. He didn't return his base and was considered AWOL.
The indictment reveals that during the time Abdullah was at home, the two defendants visited him – his 21-year-old friend Bassal Falach and a 25-year-old resident of Samiyaa. Falach checked with the soldier if he could get him hand grenades, and when the soldier answered in the negative, he offered him NIS 10,000 (USD 2,300) for his personal weapon.
Abdullah agreed and the deal was sealed later that evening. The soldier's friend who put the two in contact with one another also received a lump of money for his part in the deal. Later, Falach transferred the weapon to someone else.
At the beginning of August, Abdullah's commanders started searching his house. That is when his father first heard of the affair.
'Background for acquiring weapon criminal'
According to the indictment, after the commanders left the house, the soldier's father understood his son had gotten in trouble selling his weapon, and suggested to his son and the two defendants to fake an attack in which the son's weapon was supposedly stolen. The three left for a nearby interchange next to the village of Rama, near Carmiel, where the two defendants ripped Abdullah's shirt, sprayed him with tear gas and escaped the scene. Abdullah hitched a ride and arrived at the Carmiel police station in order to file a complaint.
Carmiel Police Chief Nitzav Effie Fartouk said to Ynet, "A short time after starting the investigation, suspicion arose that the soldier was lying about the circumstances of the attack. Shortly after that he admitted that it was staged. At this stage, the investigation was transferred to Maouna Station, under whose jurisdiction the villages of Kissra and Samiyaa fall. Not much time after, the two defendants were arrested."
The police noted that the background for acquiring the weapon was criminal, and not nationalistic.
