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Sinai resident charged with smuggling arms to Gaza
Hassan Ali Suarcha was arrested after infiltrating Israel from Egypt; indictment says he knew weapons he smuggled into Hamas-ruled territory would be used 'against Jews'
An indictment was filed in the Beersheba District Court on Monday against a resident of the Sinai Peninsula for smuggling arms to Hamas forces in Gaza.
Hassan Ali Suarcha, 23, was charged, among other things, with committing arms offenses and conspiring to commit a crime.
According to the indictment, filed by the Southern District Prosecution, during the breach of the Egypt-Gaza border in 2007, Suarcha met with an arms smuggler and agreed to smuggle seven Kalashnikov assault rifles from Sinai to Gaza in exchange for $500.
The indictment states that Suarcha, who also smuggled cigarettes and tobacco into the Palestinian enclave through Israel using camels, "was aware that the weapons would be used against Jews."
During their latest attempt to smuggle tobacco and cigarettes into Gaza, Suarcha and other smugglers infiltrated Israel and handed the goods to an Israeli Bedouin.
Suarcha, who remained in Israel, was arrested a month ago, along with other members of his family, after police received information that tobacco and cigarette and smugglers had found agricultural work at a Negev community.
