The Israel Police's drug unit arrested four Galilee residents on Saturday for the alleged trafficking of 4.5 kg of heroin from Lebanon.
Three of the suspects were nabbed on the scene while the fourth, who police suspect to be the dealer of the drug, was detained later.
The alleged smugglers were apprehended through cooperation between police and the IDF in a stakeout that began Friday at 11 am, when a Lebanese citizen was seen throwing the package of heroin over the border fence.
One of the suspects, a resident of the northern town of Ba'ana, was seen picking up the package on the Israeli side of the border. He disappeared into the bushes but was later picked up by detectives.
"At around 1 am we succeeded in tracking him down and detaining him," said Police Superintendent Ami Mualem, commander of the police's Lebanon border unit. "Then, a little later, we detained two people who arrived in a car to pick him up."
The brother of one of the apprehended suspects was arrested a short while later on suspicion that he was the dealer to receive the heroin.
The seized narcotics are valued at approximately NIS 900,000 ($210,000), but their street value is closer to NIS 4 million ($950,000), according to police.
Superintendent Mualem says his unit has captured over 30 kg of heroin on the Lebanon border since the beginning of they year. But the police's most impressive catch took place in 2008, when 32 kg of the drug were seized during one operation.